The lighthouse
by maymay74
Summary: During twenty years, the old lighthouse on Long Beach remained abandoned. Now, on behalf of the owner, Edward led a group of his friends here to repair it in the hopes to sell the property. Edward wants to use this opportunity to finally declare his feelings to Bella. Will he have the chance? Who is crying at night? What are those noises that kept the locals away? EXB OOC
1. Chapter 1

Green, green, brown. Green, green, brown. Always the same boring scenery that leads to my hometown, Forks. But here I was on my way home like every vacation period, whether it was summer, Christmas or Thanksgiving; I was always expected to come back home. Not that I dreaded my time here, because I loved to spend time with my friends, but it was the underlying expectation that my uncle had of me taking his place managing the family properties which I'm not entirely sure I wanted to do. Or if I wanted to do it from here.

After almost four years of college, I was ready to make this spring break the best farewell to my uncle's home. This year I'll be getting my trust fund making me able to establish wherever I want, which will be as far away from this small town as I can. Unless I...

"..but why? I mean, they vanished cannon, ok it was their choice. No matter that for more than thirty years it was what we the fans worshiped. But to have Han Solo hiding a wife? I mean, Han Solo is the quintessential bad boy, loved by women, every man wants to be him. Why make him a cheater?"

The inane ramblings of my best friend Emmett McCarty disturbed my thoughts. We found each other at the airport and I offered to give him a ride, you know, to keep me company. But he comes with the most random ideas and he usually act like a five-year-old kid.

Now he was squirming in his seat like a worm.

"Are we there yet?" Emmett, my big oaf of a friend asked while trying to adjust his legs to the small space my car provided.

"Yeah, only twenty minutes more. Jesus Em! You act like a toddler."

"Well, you weren't cramped in a coach seat for four hours to get here, rich boy. Not everybody can fly in business class."

He finally got the seat to move back and he stretched his legs. He got so relaxed that he closed his eyes and fell asleep.

Rich boy! People always assumed that because my Aunt Esme was one of the Platts from Seattle we were rolling in money, the truth was, her family almost disowned her for marrying Uncle Carlisle whose family wasn't so well off and carried on a reputation as a ladies man. Sure, they managed to let Esme a few properties around the state, but the bulk of the Platt's fortune was distributed between Esme's sisters who were married within their circle. The trust fund I inherited came from my mother's Elizabeth side. Dad was Carlisle's twin brother and the fact that he married to one of the Masen from Chicago was what made the Platts tolerate Carlisle.

You may wonder what am I doing here; well my parents died when I was five, we were involved in a car accident that not only took them away but left me with a limp on my left leg. My uncle was fast to bring me to Forks, and I gotta admit that even when they weren't as affectionate as my parents, they always treated me like a son.

"Ugh ah... ugh ah"

Emmett still snores like a rusty chainsaw!

But he's always been one of my best friends. Hell! I have to be thankful that this little town provided me with a great group of people I can consider my friends through the years. Emmett and Jasper were always there for me, Irina and her crazy aunt Kate, even Jessica, Lauren, and Michael. Oh, and I can't forget the guys from the rez, Seth, Paul, and Quill. They were always supporting me when I struggled with my limp, so much that I was able to become part of the track team on my senior year. Yeah, we were always a close knit group. We still get together every vacation period. There's nothing like a summer with all my friends, bonfires at night or camping trips. We remain close through our college years.

"Ugh ah... ugh ah"

I had to be glad he's still sleeping. Otherwise, he would ask for the one theme I don't want to touch yet... Bella Swan.

Our old police chief retired when we were in our senior year of high school, which brought his replacement along with his family: his very pregnant wife, his niece Rosalie and her daughter, beautiful Isabella.

Bella and Rosalie got along immediately with our group and I have to say that the day I met her I knew I had given my heart to her, irrevocably. Rosalie knew and she always helped me, she always insisted that Bella felt the same and I had to grow the balls to ask her out. Too bad the day I find them, someone asked her out first. Now, I can't blame Michael, I always kept my feelings for her hidden, but when I saw them together at Forks dinner I left running and cried in my room for two days. Rose was always there for me, and she told me it wasn't serious, but I can't think for other reason why Bella finally accepted to date any guy.

I left to college brokenhearted, but I couldn't forget her. Believe me, I tried.

Then something came every year because when we came to Forks for every holiday, either one of us had too much to handle and decide to skip coming to Forks or I was dating or she was dating. Nothing serious on my side, and as per Rose, nothing serious on Bella's side too. Rose always kept pushing me to come clear to Bella about my feelings, but I always chickened out.

But this time needs to be different. This will be our last vacation together before we start our adult lives. This time, I'll have to man up and declare my feelings for her. I just have to pray she remains single.

xxx

After I dropped Emmett at his house, I made my way to mine. My uncle was already there waiting for me.

"Son! I'm so glad to see you." He gave me a one-half hug like I said he wasn't overly affectionate.

"I'm glad to be back."

"Let me help you with your things. Esme is waiting for you." He said while I opened the trunk of the car.

"Hey, thanks for dropping the car at the airport."

"Don't thank me. It was Esme's idea. We wanted you to avoid the hassle of renting a car or using one of Todd's cabs when you have your car waiting for you."

He took one of my bags and walked inside the house. As he mentioned Esme was waiting inside with a tray of sandwiches and sodas.

"Edward you're finally here!" She kissed my cheeks and pulled me to sit on one of the armchairs in the living room. "How was your flight? Did you have a problem finding the car in the short term parking lot?""

"Fine, Aunt Esme, and no I found the car right away. How are you? Did your backache finally disappeared?"

"Not completely, but Lucy recommended me this wonderful chiropractor she's been consulting and I can't wait to visit him."

Lucy Hamilton was aunt Esme's best friend and she came from one of the wealthiest families in the country. She and my aunt felt like they were Fork's royalty. And they were always pushing Irina, who's Lucy's daughter, and me to date.

"I'm glad you're feeling better."

"Oh, and you have to know, your uncle went to the cardiologist." She gave a pointed glare to uncle Carlisle. "He has to cut fat and eat more healthy. So now we're on a low-fat diet. I hope you don't have a problem or I could ask Hellen to cook something else for you. Anyway, here had one of these, you must be hungry after your flight. Now enough about us, tell me what's been going on with you lately? Is that horrible professor still pushing you to make an internship on his damned firm?"

"Yeah, but I already let him down. I would have to stay in New York and I'm not sure if that's what I want to do."

Uncle Carlisle coughed. "Edward! You know that I want to retire and I'm counting on you to handle our business."

"And I'll do it; I just want to find my way. You know I think we could handle everything better if we move the management to a bigger city. Traveling will be necessary anyway."

"But your family is here in Forks! I don't think it would be wise for us to move." My aunt Esme exclaimed horrified by the mere thought of going away from Forks.

"We have time, aunt Esme, I still haven't finished college." I said patting her knee.

"Are you still thinking about getting your masters?" My uncle asked.

"I don't know."

"Well, we don't have as much time as you think. In a few months, you're going to graduate. I think an MBA online once you get a hang of the business is a good option. But still, I always managed everything from here and never had a problem." Uncle Carlisle pointed.

"I think I know what could make you want to stay. If only we found a little miss within our acquaintances..." Aunt Esme said with a twinkle in her eyes.

"Irina is moving to San Francisco if she was the one you were thinking of," I said.

"Not if Lucy can avoid it. You know what we think about Kate and her scandalous behavior." Aunt Esme shuddered at the memory of Kate Hamilton, one of my favorites persons in the world.

"Also, you know Irina and I will always be just good friends."

"Do you still have that crush on the Swan girl? I thought you would get over it once you met other girls. You never mentioned another girl ever."

I was so shocked that she knew that I almost missed the rest of her rant.

"I had a few dates, nothing serious enough to bring it to your attention."

My aunt nodded but didn't look too convinced.

My uncle cleared his throat. "That's not important, you're too young to feel pressured for marriage." He sighed. "Now, you know Esme invited all your friends to come by tomorrow for a cookout, right?"

I nodded. Every time I came back she organized one.

"Well, I have a proposition for you and your friends. Remember that last February I went to Long Beach? Well, I think I finally found a possible buyer for our property there."

"The old building with the lighthouse?"

"Yeah. One of Esme's old classmates got divorced and she wants to move to a peaceful place where she can paint and live peacefully with her twenty cats." My uncle laughed.

"Oh, you make it sound so pathetic. She's a painter and thinks a place like the old lighthouse has some character that will inspire her. But the divorce is true. And she only has three cats." Esme was quick to add.

"Anyway, the problem is that the building is in a desperate need of repairing. I want your friends to help you to paint and make the minor repairs the building needs. You had done it before, I remember the Whitlock farm turned out fine. So, what about all of you go there, make the repairs, swim in the pool, have a wonderful time together and I'll pay you the same amount the contractors were charging me with the condition that you finish on time to go back to college."

"I remember the building was in excellent shape. How bad is the lighthouse?"

"I'm not gonna lie, the lighthouse was abandoned twenty years ago when they build the new one; but in reality, Esme's friend will only use it as an inspiration. If it's painted and the stairs are firm, we will be golden. So, why don't you talk about it with your friends and then we can make the necessary arrangements. You'll need food and supplies so I would give you something in advance. So, are you in?""

I thought about it. It would give me the perfect chance to have Bella close and talk to her. Two weeks. Yeah, I think we could work with that.

* * *

Hi!

This is my new story. I know I said I would post it a few days ago, but a few technical problems (we changed to another internet provider and we had to wait for them to install it). Anyway... what do you think? This time, most of the story will be told in Edward's POV, but Bella may talk in a couple of chapters.

So, if the internet gods allow me, next chapter will be up tomorrow. Meanwhile, I hope you like this one.

See ya.


	2. Chapter 2

The cookout was a huge success like any event Esme planned. We had almost the whole town in our backyard, which said how little was Forks.

Emmet and Jasper were the firsts to come and sat by my side.

"So your uncle said you had a proposition for me," Emmett said, his face was all seriousness.

"Yeah, I'm going to make you an offer you can't refuse," I said in my best Brando impersonation.

Emmett bounced in his seat. "I knew you would get it!" which prompted Jasper to slap him on the head.

"Your uncle asked us if we had plans for this week because you had something for us."

"He wants us to go to Long Beach to fix one of his properties. He offers a really good pay."

"Really? Like with my parents farm?" Jasper asked smiling, remembering how rich we felt with the fifty bucks his parents pay to each of us for two days of work. He was so cheap and always was trying to save some money. We're still trying to find out for what because he's been saving since we were ten.

"That job was a piece of cake," Emmett added.

"Yeah, it gets better. That building has a pool, no neighbors close asking us to keep it quiet. Imagine it: One-week painting and doing minor repairings while at night we can party and get drunk as a skunk."

"Woo hoo! Count me in!" Emmett yelled.

"And the best part, we will get paid."

Jasper hugged me. "Dude! You have the best uncle. I thought I was doomed to pack groceries or clean up shit at the barn. Who else is coming?"

"I was thinking everyone could come. Mike, the girls, Irina, Seth and our friends of the rez..." I was counting with my fingers. The building had seven rooms and four bathrooms. If we bunked in pairs we could bring a few more friends.

"Including little Miss Swan?" Emmett asked wriggling his eyebrows.

"Sure, if she wants to come." I answered trying to act nonchalant, but I was sure I was blushing.

"Everyone except Jacob Black, right?" Asked Jasper.

"Yeah, I don't want him to even know we are planning to go out of Forks. He always finds a way to fuck up our plans." I said while Emmett and Jasper nodded.

My aunt decided to come at that moment and pull me out to mingle with our guests and I took the chance to look around for Bella.

Mike was sitting on the corner with Jessica, Lauren and her on and off boyfriend Tyler. He was a nice guy from Port Angeles who met Lauren at college. I didn't have any inconvenient on inviting him to come along.

"Hey, guys!"

"Edward! My man!" Mike gave me a sloppy man hug because he didn't want to drop his beer.

"How have you been?" I asked and shook hands with the rest of the group.

"Excellent! Now that my sister is married and pregnant my mother finally desisted and it's bothering her instead." Lauren answered. She had the worst case of overbearing mother I had seen, hers was worst than Irina's mother. The others only said fine.

"Well, I kind of have a proposition. Do you have any special plans for the next week?"

They said no, so I told them about the lighthouse in Long Beach and they all were on board. Jessica was very enthusiast because her car broke on her way home from Portland and the money will come handy to pay for the mechanic services. I wanted to ask about Bella, but I didn't want to be so obvious.

"Who else do you think may want to come? The building attached to the lighthouse has room for everyone." I asked.

Jessica looked around. "Well, Seth and our friends from the rez surely would want to come. Just mention 'free food' and they'll be there. Maybe Bella and Irina, if you find them, but I haven't seen them since I got here."

I thanked them and promised to call with the details of our trip. I was thinking we could leave really early on Monday and be back Friday night or Saturday morning.

I walked around and had a few words with the other guests, but Bella and her family weren't here. Really strange because while the Chief was quiet and reserved, Renee was very friendly and their little daughter Claire loved this kind of gatherings, she would never miss my welcome home party. Maybe Bella decided to skip her visit home... no, but then her parents still would be here. Maybe they went to visit Rosalie...

"Hey handsome! You were so lost in your thoughts for a minute. I've been calling your name." Angela, the preacher's daughter giggled. The only other person I hoped to avoid this week. She had a huge crush on me and was always trying to get some time alone with me. I was so glad to be out of Forks for the rest of the week...

"I heard you were making plans with the boys." She was twirling a strand of hair with her fingers.

Shit!

"You should have told me before!" She softly patted my arm. "Now I have plans. My father has a conference in Seattle so I'm bound to babysit my brothers."

Uff! That one was close.

"Anyway, if you're only asking boys to go and help you then my father wouldn't let me go." She pouted. Right, like that had stopped her before.

"Uh, oh. Well," I desperately ran my hands through my hair. How could I let her down without making a scene? Because she always cries. Always. When I didn't ask her to our junior prom and went with Lauren and my friends, she cried. When she found I was moving to Ithaca for college she cried. And it always makes me look like the bad guy. I thought she had a boyfriend... what was his name? Ben? But if I ask about him she will take it as if I am jealous. No, I better...

"Edward! How are you doing?" Lucy Hamilton, not one of my favorite people, but right now she was my hero.

"Mrs. Hamilton, so nice to see you." She kissed my cheek, well the air near my cheek, and took my elbow to lead me away from Angela.

"That poor girl is so desperate that it gets really annoying. Now on behalf of my family, especially my daughter, I'd like to apologize for missing this party. I'm only here to pick up a file from Carlisle. We have a business dinner with some of my husband's associates and Irina was so kind to accompany us."

"Uh, well, thanks?" I really didn't know what to say. I was really thankful she helped me to get rid of Angela, but I didn't know what else to say.

"Well, I just wanted to apologize and make sure you knew we didn't mean to disrespect you. Now that you know, I'm going with your uncle, I need to leave in five minutes or I'll be late." She left me to go inside the house, to look for my uncle.

I spent the rest of the cookout glued to Jasper and Emmett, making plans for our trip. Sadly Bella and her family missed the cookout.

xxx

The next day I decided to skip the morning service at church to have a greasy delicious breakfast at the dinner. I needed to make a plan to ask Bella to come with us. What if she decided to move out of Forks and never plans to come back? What if I missed the chance to come clear about my feelings? What if I never have the chance to show her how good we could be together? No, I had to be positive; visualize my plans coming to fruition. I decided to go to the Swan's home and ask about Bella. Then I could find a way to talk with her. Probably visiting her at college...

I was so focused in my plans that I didn't notice when someone took a seat in my booth.

"Hi! I'm sorry I didn't go to your party yesterday. The airline overbooked my flight and I ended touring through five different airports to get back here."

It was the sweetest voice, the voice of an angel. Bella was seated in front of me.

Now, I don't know what possessed me but my first words to her weren't the ones I had planned.

"Are you single?"

* * *

Hi!

What do you think Bella is going to answer? Next chapter has the very needed talk between these two.


	3. Chapter 3

_I was so focused in my plans that I didn't notice when someone took a seat in my booth._

 _"Hi! I'm sorry I didn't go to your party yesterday. The airline overbooked my flight and I ended touring through five different airports to get back here."_

 _It was the sweetest voice, the voice of an angel. Bella was seated in front of me._

 _Now, I don't know what possessed me but my first words to her weren't the ones I had planned._

 _"Are you single?"_

The moment those words were out of my mouth, I closed my eyes and waited for Bella to laugh at my outburst. It didn't happen, she just gasped.

After thirty-five seconds of silence, yeah I was counting, I opened my eyes. Bella was blushing furiously and was trying to hide her face with her long hair.

I had to backpedal or I would miss my chance, but she shocked me by answering my question.

"Yes, I'm single."

I nodded. Another thirty seconds of silence passed with both of us staring at our hands over the plastic table mats the dinner provided.

"So you and Michael aren't together, right? He..."

"And what about Irina?" She asked, but she was glaring at me.

"Irina has always been just a friend. It's our mothers who tried to set us up."

Bella nodded and began to play with her fingers.

"Nothing ever happened with Michael."

"But I saw you with him, here! And he mentioned how you finally agreed to go out with him and he was so static and making plans to not blow his chance..."

Bella gave me a bitter smile. "That was the worst case of miscommunication and misunderstandings. The boys planned a group date and I agreed to come because, hmm, someone I liked was supposed to come."

"Oh."

So she liked someone else. Jasper? Emmett? Could it be me?

"And maybe someone else gave me a terrible advice, " she said, " and despite the warnings of Rose who told me how bad that idea was, I followed blindly those instructions. Too bad for me, because apparently they backfired. But in my defense, I was desperate because we were leaving for college and I always thought yo- he liked me too. After that fateful day, he avoided me and left without saying goodbye."

She finished her ramblings and was looking at me nervously. Wait! I avoided her after I saw her with Michael and yeah, I left sooner than what I had planned because the mere thought of seeing her with someone else was too painful. Could it be...

"But Irina got me the next day and clearly mentioned how she was your first and I didn't know what to think, so I left Forks bitter because I thought..."

"My what? Irina?"

"Yeah, she kindly reminded it to me every time she saw me."

"Bella, are you talking about me? You liked me?"

Now we both were tomato red. I took her hand in mine.

"Bella, I liked you ever since the first day I met you."

"Uh? But then Irina..." She looked at me.

"Irina gave me my first kiss when we were seven. Not our most proud moment."

"But then why did she told me..."

"Bella, Irina is a good friend of mine who tends to protect me and she knew...well," I rubbed the back of my neck with my other hand because there was no way I would release her hand, "Bella when I saw you with Michael... hmm... see, I liked you so much, and when I saw you with him I thought I lost my chance because we were leaving and..."

"Ugh! Emmett told me to agree to Michael's invitation. He said it was a group date, so it wasn't really a date. He said I needed to 'light a fire under your ass'. Then Jasper was supposed to make sure Michael knew it wasn't a real date because we didn't want to hurt him. They promised to talk to you too... Why did I listen to them? They were so sure would get jealous and it would push you to talk to me!"

"Well, I got jealous but I felt I lost my chance because I chickened out and then I remembered how Michael was so excited about going out with you. He's a nice guy and..."

Suddenly the bell over the door of the dinner chimed and we knew someone else got inside. It was a strange occurrence on Sunday morning because people in Forks or was early at church or slept 'til brunch.

It was Irina, speak of the devil. She walked to the counter and yelled for Shelly to bring her order. Now, Irina usually is easy going, so I was wondering what got her so mad.

The bell chimed again and this time Jacob Black was the one coming in.

"Jesus, Irina! I've been calling you for two blocks. You have to answer me some time, you can't keep ignoring me. I told you I'm sorry..." He said while glancing around, when he found me with Bella he growled.

"Listen, why don't we go to the park and you give me the chance to explain what happened?" He got closer to Irina and tried to whisper, but the dinner was empty so we heard everything.

Irina just turned around and glared at him.

"I don't have anything to talk with you, now if you excuse me, I have a date for breakfast with someone else."

"With whom? With Edward? Because he's sitting right there with Isabella Swan. Try again."

Irina huffed. "I never told you who was my date." She walked around Jacob and waved to us in greeting, but she went out of the dinner followed by a very angry Jacob.

"What's wrong with those two? I didn't know they were dating." I said, but Bella turned to look at me and snickered.

"So you were never ever with her? Just that kiss?"

"Bella one day I'll tell you the story behind that kiss. There weren't any romantic feeling involved. It was eww."

"But at seven what kind of kiss she could give you? When was your first kiss with tongue involved?"

I blushed.

"Oh no! Now, tell me that story." She pleaded.

That was the moment when I seized the opportunity.

"What about I promise to tell you the story later, perhaps tonight while you go out with me on a date? A real one."

Bella blushed, nodded and giggled.

"It took you almost five years to ask me. Now, what is this about a trip to Long beach?"

I told her about my uncle's plan and she was excited to come. We discussed my plans for when we get toLong Beach and then decide to keep our a date simple, just coffee, because tomorrow we'll have to leave early. Then she got pensive.

"Would you mind if I ask someone else to come?"

"Sure, the more the merrier. Wait, you're not thinking in Jacob or Angela, right? Because those two..."

"No! I can't stand them. Do you remember how I told you that Emmett and Jasper were the ones behind the whole Michael clusterfuck, well I think some payback is needed." She had the most mischievous smile I ever was seen.

xxx

Later at seven, I was on my way to Bella's home. I had just finished with the last details for our trip, everybody was expected to come to the gas station at six o'clock. Jessica was right, I called Seth and when I offered free food he accepted gladly. Counting with Bella's guest, there will be twelve of us on our way to Long Beach. Not bad. I already packed my clothes, a couple of sleeping bags and a few trinkets I felt would be useful. Now if only this date turn out the way I want...

The Swan's house was around the corner, but I could see Chief Swan sitting in the porch waiting for me. He never did that before. And I didn't have the chance to mull on my options because the Chief stood up when he saw my car.

"Good evening Edward," He said while I was getting down from the car "I heard you're going for coffee with Bella."

Don't show you're nervous, don't show you're nervous.

"Hello, Chief; yeah we want to talk about..." The chief was walking around me and I didn't know why it made me so nervous.

"She also mentioned she was leaving to Long Beach with you." He was still pacing around me.

"Yeah, it's a group trip. My uncle asked us to..."

"I know, Bella told me. Look, I'm going to ask a little favor." He looked at me and I nodded. "She's too stubborn and proud, that she doesn't want to accept any help from me. I want to give you this," he pushed a wad of cash into my hand, "she said she didn't need it."

"Well, chief, she won't need it. My uncle is paying us for the job, so he's happy to provide food and the materials. And anything else she may fancy I could..."

"Just take it. If you don't use it then you can hand it back to me when you return." He winked at me. "Now, I know you plan to go out just for coffee, but I would feel more comfortable if you stay in Forks; she got here at three in the morning and then if you plan to leave early tomorrow she won't be able to drive."

"Hmm, I was thinking that she could go with me, I'm taking my uncle's SUV so we won't be traveling in too many cars."

The chief burst out laughing.

"Son, it took you five years to ask her out; I think it's time you come clean and just ask her to sit by your side, not only in the car." He winked again.

"Am I that obvious?"

The chief just led me to the door of his house that opened before I knocked.

"Da-ad! Get inside before Edw...oh, hi Edward." Bella was the one who opened the door, and I would be laughing at what she said if I wasn't mesmerized by her outfit. How could she get more beautiful with just a simple skirt and a girly top?

"Hi, Bella. Hmm, oh, I forgot the flowers in the car." I was so nervous about the chief that I really forgot everything.

"Don't worry, we have to leave now because we don't have too much time thanks to Mr. You-have-a-curfew." She glared at the chief who smiled.

"I'm just worried about your safety." He shrugged his shoulders.

Bella took my hand and led me out of her house. "Come on. Bye Daddy! I'm taking my key so don't wait up!"

She closed the door, but I heard the chief laughing inside.

I opened the door of the car and watched as Bella slipped inside. Oh, her legs were sinful! I walked around the car, trying to calm myself. She was my dreams come true and I finally was out on a date, ok semi-date. Now, I knew we have to talk. We let too much time pass and we have to bring back that connection we used to share, but if I played my cards right, I may get the woman of my dreams by the end of spring break.


	4. Chapter 4

"Where are we going?" Bella asked while she smoothed her skirt.

"Well, I had planned a quiet dinner at Port Angeles, but considering your father's request, I think it would be a better choice the coffee shop on Maple street."

Bella giggled. "Starlooks?"

Yeah, I also found it humorous that we lived in a town so small we couldn't afford the have the biggest franchises, so we had to improvise. Not even a Target or a Walmart. But Starlooks had certain character and warmth that those big franchises wished they had.

"Yeah, it's that or the bar on the outskirts of Forks. But it would be too noisy to keep a conversation."

Bella agreed.

Starlooks wasn't so bad, it had a few tables, three couches and a big bar with stools for those who came alone. I led Bella to one of the two booths at the back, I was sure it would give us the chance to talk.

I went for our coffees and looked around for familiar faces. Fortunately, there were only a few teens on one of the couches.

"Here." I put Bella's coffee in front of her.

"Thanks. So..."

"So?"

Bella seemed as nervous as I was. So I decided to ask her about what I felt was the demise of our friendship, apart of the Michaelgate.

"Why you didn't come back the first year?"

"Why did you avoided me when I came back?"

We asked at the same time.

Bella huffed. "It's a sad story related to my family. What about you?"

"At that time, I wasn't avoiding you."

"So you admit you avoided me later?"

"Hey! You did it too. So why you didn't come back?"

"Well, the thing is... did Rose ever talked to you about her parents?"

I shook my head. "No, she only mentioned she didn't have the best relationship with them."

"Well, where should I start? When they married, they worked to set an import-export business. It took them ten years to get it giving a decent profit but it was time-consuming and they didn't have the time for Rose. Luckily, my parents lived nearby so Rose spent most of her time with us. When they offered the job to Charlie here in Forks Rose's mom put a bit of a fight but my mother convinced her that having Rose with us was for the best and it would only be a year before she parted to college, so her mother agreed."

I nodded.

"The problem started the summer we graduated. Rose's mom found out that her husband had been stealing from the company because he needed the money to support the family he had on the side and he obviously didn't want her to find about or get caught."

"Oh."

"Yeah, so it turned in a messy divorce with a fraud and embezzlement investigation. Long story short, her mother won the company and kicked Rose's father ass to the curve. The downfall was that she became depressed and when we were about to start college she tried to commit suicide."

"Poor Rose!"

"Exactly poor Rose. So when she finally left the hospital we decided it was better to move with her to keep her company since we were already in Phoenix. So that year, thanksgiving and any vacation period was spent with her. We came here for Christmas because Charlie couldn't get the time to visit us, but for at least ten months we were dedicated to helping her."

"So that's the reason why Rose hadn't come back."

"Yeah. She's pretty embarrassed because for a while it was like Jerry Springer's tv show. The other woman came and threatened Rose, the other kids were awful and rude. She made me promise to not let anyone know."

"But you're telling me."

She nodded. "She gave me permission because she still considers you one of her best friends. Anyway, that first Christmas, you weren't here."

"We went to visit aunt Esme's family."

"Well, when I came here everybody told me you had changed. Jasper said that since you became the campus most popular man, it went over your head and that you fought."

I nodded. "Yeah, and I have to admit it was entirely my fault. Do you remember James Hunter?"

"Blond guy, a couple of years older than us? Yeah, I'd seen him a couple of times."

"Well, James was the golden boy from Forks. The best part, he was genuine. He was the one who encouraged me to train for the track team. I was really close to him until he left for Cornell."

"So you went to college with him?"

"Yeah. Remember that I left early? Well, I went to stay with him until I could get into my dorm. Then my roommate turned out to be a pig so I spent most of my time with James at his apartment. Well, he was very popular at the campus, so he introduced me to his friends and we went to the best parties. And I took it as the chance to reinvent myself. I was having self-esteem issues."

"Because of me?"

"Yeah." I nodded and blushed. "So I went to parties and the girls flocked around me. They never knew I had a limp or that I was an orphan living with my uncles."

Bella gasped. "But I never made you feel like that! It wasn't even on my radar. You know we all care for you for being Edward, we don't care..."

"Oh Bella, I know but at the time I was having a few issues. James was over with the frat boy partying stage, he was pretty involved with his studies, but he said I needed to live a little. It was awful Bella, I can't remember most of those nights."

Bella took my hand in hers and traced lazy circles on my palm.

"What happened to made you fight with Emmett and Jasper?"

"After a too heavy Halloween party, I got sick with the flu. I spent three days locked inside Jame's apartment. The third day I awoke to a chorus of female voices arguing with James. Three girls were looking out for me. They said I had promised to take each of them out. It was a lie because the days they said I invited them were the ones I spent sick. James asked them why they wanted me when it was obvious I never asked them out. They answered that I cleaned up nicely and was a good lay, one of them said that the fact that I have money helped too. That was so embarrassing. I was a whore for those girls, and they were right because to this day I can't remember who was the girl who took my virginity or how it was. Add that my grades were falling and I was going to fail every subject with those girls comments and I really hit rock bottom after that.

By then James had met his girlfriend Vicky, and both of them helped me to quit partying and to get on the right track. When I came back for Thanksgiving I was suffering from withdrawal and was too stressed for the work I had upon me at college. I was a mess and was very rude to everybody. I never left my house and when Jasper and Emmett came to look out for me I may have fought with them because I didn't want to deal with them."

Bella was still soothing me. It was incredible how once we started talking everything went out easily. We still had that connection.

"Carlisle said that James is living in Long Beach, and he offered to help us if we were interested."

"Really? Are you still keeping his friendship?"

"Bella, it wasn't his fault that I got out of control. He only wanted me to enjoy a little and I am sure he knew I was hearing those girls. He let me make the decision to straighten up my act. He always had supported me."

"Ok, if you say so. Now tell me why did you avoid me all those years?"

"Well, you became too serious and, well, I really didn't want to find out you moved on. Once your mother mentioned you were dating a guy and I felt like someone kicked my gut. So I thought it was best if we weren't that close. Ignorance is bliss and all that jazz."

Bella laughed. "Oh, that was a story I made up. When I returned here, Jacob Black started to hound me, he's very creepy. I invented that to keep him away. Of course it would come to bite me in the ass."

I took both of her hands in mine. Jacob's name shouldn't taint our first date.

"So you didn't have a boyfriend in four years? I can't believe that; you're the most beautiful woman I had ever met. Boys in Phoenix must be blind and stupid."

Bella blushed. "Rose pushed me to date, but it always went wrong. I never felt that spark... "

We were looking intently at each other eyes; heads aligned to share finally that first kiss we should have had four years ago.

At that moment, Emmett appeared from behind my back and sat at my side.

"Well hello, my dear friends. Are you enjoying the delicacies this establishment offers?" He said in a loud voice and to make matters worst, he took my coffee which I left unattended when I talked with Bella.

Bella sighed. The spell was broken, the moment was gone.

Well, it was a big possibility to find one of our friends. Forks don't have a lot of places to mingle.

Emmett elbowed me and made a sign look to my right. Sure enough Angela Webber and her friends were ordering to the barista, she was glaring daggers to Bella.

I mouthed a sarcastic thank you to Emmett. Who cares if Angela saw me kissing Bella?

"We were just catching up," Bella answered to Emmett's question, completely unaware of Angela's glare.

"I feel neglected Bella. You don't know of my lasts adventures in Florida. I saw a crocodile this big!" Emmett happily opened his arms wide to show us the dimensions of the crocodile, but Bella kept looking at him with her arms crossed at her chest.

"Well, I may had seen it while I was on a friend's car, but it was scary. You know how I feel about reptiles." Emmett huffed, annoyed because he didn't impress us.

Emmett's loud voice dragged the attention of Lauren and Tyler and soon enough we were surrounded by our friends. So much for our first date!

We left a few minutes later when Emmett had our friends enthralled with one of his stories. Nobody noticed.

xxx

The next day looked much better. I remembered how on the way back to her house, we talked more about us and decided to try and see where this week would take us. I certainly hoped this five days will prove to her how right we are to each other. When I left her at her house, I thought I finally was going to get that toe-curling first kiss, but the chief was waiting for us with Bella's and her guest's suitcases. He pushed Bella inside and helped me to get them in the trunk of my car. He told me he would take them to our meeting point early in the morning and waved me goodbye. But for the first time in four years, I was hopeful.

When I arrived at the gas station, Emmett, Jasper, and Seth were already there.

"Uh, shotgun!" Jasper yelled and run to the passenger side of my car.

"Nope. Not today Jasper."

"Why? I'm the best copilot. I can read maps and let you know in advance when you have to turn."

I ran my hands through my hair.

"I already have my car full. Today your driving with Emmett."

Jasper looked horrified. "Who's driving with you?"

"Irina called me earlier and asked to come. She's hiding from her family."

"You're not interested in her, you know how annoying she gets on the road. Who else is coming?"

"Hmm, Bella is going ride with me, and she's bringing a guest."

Emmett and Seth were laughing.

"Dude! He's trading you for a girl." Emmett guffawed.

"Not any girl. We know Eddie here had the hots for miss Bella for so long." Seth was also laughing.

Jasper grumbled his disgust, but it didn't matter because the chief's cruiser arrived. From it descended Bella and a blond girl. It couldn't be!

"Hi, guys! Do you remember my cousin Rosalie?"

I ran to hug Rose, I still thought of her as one of my best friends. But the best reactions were from Emmett and Jasper. They were speechless with their mouths open. They always had a crush for her and got a bit competitive to get her attentions, but then she left.

Fifteen minutes later, the rest of our friends arrived and I asked the girls to climb on my car. Jasper was still grumbling how I traded him for a few girls and how it was unfair.

The trip to Long Beach went fast, at least in my car where the girls were chatting happily and Bella let me hold her hand the whole way. Finally after three and a half hours we got to Long Beach.

I led them to the road to the house and Irina commented on how lonely was over here. She was right because we were surrounded by trees at least for the last seventy miles.

I parked the car at the foot of the dirt road that led to the lighthouse. You could see it from there.

"Guys, look to the end of the road. This is the infamous Long Beach old lighthouse."


	5. Chapter 5

"This is the infamous Long Beach old lighthouse."

"Wow," Rose was the first to give her opinion because she left the car to stretch her legs. Soon enough, everybody left their car and were oohing and aahing.

"Dude, do you think we have time to finish in five days? It looks gigantic." Seth pointed out.

"Well, we need to check the conditions of the house first. My uncle was clear that the lighthouse is just decorative, and he always kept the house in pristine conditions because he rented it to the local church for their spiritual retreats. He was adamant the lighthouse was meant to remain closed all the time. But now he's selling so at least it has to be safe for the new owner."

"When was the last time you were here?" Paul, one of the rez boys, asked.

"I don't know, maybe eight or nine years? The house used to have a moose head on the foyer, and it always creeped me out as a kid so I did everything I could to skip those visits."

"A teeny weeny head scared you?" Jasper mocked me.

"You have to see it. Those eyes always judged me and they knew..." I changed my voice to the eeriest sound I could muster up, "You ate too many cookies... you didn't clean the pool... It always knew."

Everybody laughed.

"Well, let's get inside. I want to pee." Emmett pushed me to the car and he was answered with a choir of 'Again?'

"Emmett you're too big to have such a small bladder." Irina joked.

xxx

The house was still in great shape as far as I saw when I opened the door. The foyer looked the same with the round staircases on each side, the door to the living room on the left and the dining room on the right. Everything was covered in dust and cobwebs. I looked up, something in the foyer was covered up with a sheet, probably the head of my nightmares.

Emmett was doing his pee dancing and I knew what he wanted. "There's a bathroom at the back of the stairs." He ran past me.

The others were astounded by the size of the house.

"Where do we left our trash, Edward'," Bella asked. The girls had their arms full of all the snacks we ate on the road.

"Let me go to the kitchen to get a trashcan. Seth, come with me. The electricity panel is on the back. It's supposed to have water and electricity running, but we have to turn everything on."

I led the way when Emmett came running back.

"I peed on a spider! I peed on a spider!"

"What did you expect? At least it wasn't a rat." Michael said.

"It was as big as my hand!" Emmett cringed. "And I have a very big hand with very long fingers." He winked at Rose, who just rolled her eyes.

"Come, I'll show you how a man deals with these little creepers." Jasper rolled the sleeves of his shirt.

"Wait. Give me a minute to turn the water on. Then please flush all the toilets, who knows how many of those ginormous spiders are left?" I mocked Emmett.

xxx

It took us half an hour to flush all the toilets, open all the windows and get the services going.

"You mentioned a pool, where is it?" Irina clapped her hands.

"Ah, it's in the back. You didn't see it when we parked because it's indoors."

"Oh, I wanted to get tanned." Jessica whined.

"With this weather? You'll turn into a popsicle"

"We probably have to clean it first," Bella added.

Sure enough, when we got to the pool it was almost empty with remains of green water.

"We have to get the pump to empty it first."

"Why don't we make a list of the materials we will need and then we go to the town for groceries too." Rose already had a pad and a pen on her hands.

Knock... Knock.

"What was that?"

"Did you hear it?"

We all turned around looking for the source of the noise.

Knock... Knock.

"It's coming from upstairs," Jasper whispered.

We ran to check what was making the noise, my guess it was a family of racoons, but Paul was happily pointing that a family of rats was more feasible.

We didn't find anything.

"They must be hiding. Come, let's make the list and we will bring some mouse traps." Michael said.

We started to leave the upper floor when I noticed Bella and Rose stopped at the back of the door to one of the rooms. We descended to the middle of the stairs when the door to the attic opened up, very slowly and creaking. Then it stopped.

A glass ball rolled out.

Jessica held Michael's arm and panicked. Rose frowned. She made us a sign to keep it quiet and she slowly crawled to the attic door. We heard how she stomped on the wooden stairs and then she screamed "Aha!"

Two wisps of girls came running to the stairs only to fall at Irina's feet.

The older girl, who seemed to be around our age, pointed a rusted knife to Irina.

"Get out of my house!" She threatened. The other girl was shaking and hugging her little legs. Both were short, pale and quite thin.

"Oh hun, you got it wrong. What are you doing in our house?" Bella came from the back.

"This is our house, we saw it first." The older girl said while younger nodded.

"Sweetie, this is our house. We have a deed to prove it." Irina glared at the girls.

"No. It was abandoned. People say the lighthouse is haunted and they never come around here."

"Well, it doesn't matter. We are here to clean the house and you have two minutes to leave." Irina crossed her arms over her chest and tapped her foot in annoyance.

"B-but we don't have anywhere to go. This was our last resort." The older girl whimpered.

"Then I can call the police. They could take you to a shelter." Irina pulled out her phone.

The rest of us were watching immobile. I was glad the girls were the ones who confronted those two tiny girls, I didn't want to scare them. But they were clearly invading private property. What if they were junkies or dealers hiding from the police? But when I saw the terrified face of the younger girl, I felt pity.

"Wait Irina. What are you really doing here? And don't tell me you found this house first. This house belongs to my family and I've been here countless times in the past. You're outnumbered and don't have a chance to escape, considering whatever you own is hiding somewhere in those bedrooms and probably you don't want to leave empty-handed. So, what are you doing here?" I took a step closer to them.

The older seemed like she wanted to spit to my face, but the younger saw my good intentions.

"We're hiding from our father."

"Why? Did he hurt you?" I squat on my knees to be on the younger girl's level and look her eye to eye.

"He was about to throw us out because I turned eighteen and his obligation to us finished."

"But if he was going to get rid of you why are you hiding?" Bella came to my side and asked the younger girl, who I'm thankful is an adult. I didn't want problems for hiding a minor.

"Because we left him first. We took what was left of our money and left." The older one said.

"So you stole from him..." Irina was still glaring at the girls.

"No! It was the money from my paycheck. He takes it and uses to buy his cheap alcohol." The older one cried. "You say you want to call the police, well do it. But call officer Daniels, the other one is Dad's poker buddy. He can verify what I'm saying."

Irina and the older girl were glaring at each other, but the younger one had an air of vulnerability that tugged at my heartstrings. Maybe not only mine, Bella and the rest of our friends got closer with concerned eyes.

"Sweetie, what is your name?"

"I'm Cynthia Brandon and that's my sister Alice."

"I'm Bella, this is Edward and that blond on the back is my cousin Rose. I'll introduce you to the rest later. For now, just answer when was the last time you ate?"

Cynthia looked down ashamed. Bella tugged on my sleeve and sighed. The rest were looking at me waiting for a decision.

"Well, we still have only five days to get this house ready. Why don't we keep with our plans?"

Bella nodded. "I have an idea. Why don't we clean two bedrooms? One for the girls and one for the boys. We need to separate in teams."

I agreed. "Well, who's coming with me for the groceries and cleaning supplies? I guess we better start cleaning and then we can calculate how many cans of paint we need to buy. Then we have to check the lighthouse. The outside doesn't need to be fixed, but the stairs on the inside may be rotten."

Jasper clasped his hands. "I think Bella and Rose could go with you while the rest of us settle our things inside. We have to keep an eye on Alice and Cynthia."

Again Alice glared.

"Sorry but we have to confirm your story, and I'm sure the police will come to take a look at what we are doing here. Better make sure is officer Daniels the one who comes, right?" He winked at Cynthia who smiled in return.

xxx

Two hours later, we were waiting for Rose to check if all the items in our list were in our shopping carts, which were full to the brim.

I took a strand of Bella's hair and idly playing with it. She sighed and took a step to get closer to me. I extended my arms and hugged her. This was heaven.

"Jasper said you brought a mini fridge. We can bring milk and eggs for breakfast."

"I think the boys were hoping to fill it with beer," I whispered on her ear. She shuddered.

"Quill brought a few coolers." She stood on her tip toes trying to reach my ear, but I gave a step back making her stumble. I held her closer and we giggled.

"Edward, my man!"

I turned around, keeping Bella in my arms, and sure enough, James Hunter was waving at me. Bella muttered some colorful words and turned to smile at James.

"James!" He came to us and I greeted him with a hug.

"Your uncle mentioned you would be here. Vicky told me to wait 'til tomorrow to visit, to give time to settle." Then he noticed who was the girl with me. "Bella Swan? Are you two finally together? Jesus! You were the impossible standard to reach for every girl he met. I pushed him to give them a chance, but no matter how beautiful or intelligent they were, they weren't you."

Bella was flushing furiously. "Thanks?"

Then James noticed our shopping carts and agreed to come to visit with Vicky later in the afternoon, giving us a chance to get back home. He even suggested to help with the repairings of the house.

When he left, Rose was running around looking for bug repellent and passed in front of us.

"Leave it, Rose. We can buy it at the drugstore."

"Wait, I found it. Let's go."

xxx

At the house, the guys had found the key for the shed in the backyard.

"Jesus Cullen! You have a garden with benches and a fountain behind the pool. I think this house was really a hotel, not a home for a big family." Quill pointed. "You had lots of gardening tools in that shed. We found the pump for the pool too, but it's manual."

"Really? Rose said that too. She thinks this was a bed and breakfast."

The others were fast to bring the groceries and the girls started to clean the kitchen while we took the bedrooms.

The house really was in great shape. We only found dust, every electric outlet was working, the bathrooms had hot water, the pipes were fine. All we had to do is give it a coat of paint. The outside like the pool and the garden will require a lot more of our work, not to mention we hadn't opened the lighthouse to give it a look. To get ready this property for the sale in five days seemed feasible.

Later on the afternoon, Rose, Irina and Lauren offered to make lunch while the rest of us settled the fire pit for tonight's bonfire. Quill and Emmett went to town for beers and liquor. James was finally here, with his fianceé Vicky. She was heavily pregnant and not so eager to mingle with us, but she cared a lot for Alice and Cynthia and they were chatting in one of the benches.

I was filling James in how I finally got Bella on a date when Vicky called my attention.

"Edward, one of your blond friends is in the top of the lighthouse. I can see her in the highest window. Isn't it dangerous to climb up there alone?"

Uh?

"Vicky, we didn't have opened the door of the lighthouse."

"Hey, I can see her. But it isn't one of the girls I saw before. Did you expect someone else?" Alice stood up and pointed the window to me. Certainly, you could see a woman. Her hair was a few shades clearer than Vicky's. How do they call it? Oh, strawberry blond. I didn't know anyone with that hair color.

"Shit! Maybe is someone from around here. Let's find out. We don't know if the stairs aren't rotten..." I ran to the lighthouse, Bella and Alice in tow.

I tried four keys until I found the one who opened the lighthouse. How did that woman got inside?

When the door was opened, the coldest breeze passed around us. I shook the dread I felt and got inside. The lighthouse was empty.

* * *

Hi!

Well, they finally arrived at the lighthouse. What do you think?

Now, for the ones who follow my other stories, I'm posting new chapters because this weekend is a holiday here in Mexico and I plan to take advantage of these days. give me your opinion.

May


	6. Chapter 6

**BPOV**

The cold breeze that emerged from the lighthouse whirled around me and then blew away. It was the strangest sensation I ever felt. I turned around and Alice who was by my side was looking at me.

"Did that cold current really happened? I mean, I always heard stories about the haunted lighthouse but attributed to the owner's wishes to keep people away. The week we spent at the house nothing remotely strange happened. But this was pretty weird."

I only could nod. Weird indeed.

The boys were shuffling to get a ladder inside the lighthouse in order to really check if someone got trapped inside. When they got the ladder leaned to the wall Alice and I decided to get inside. It wasn't what I expect at all. It was like four stories tall, with stone stairs attached to the wall instead of a pillar with spiral stairway supporting the lights. At the top, you could see a structure that held the lights and something like a bridge that linked the light's mechanism to the stairs. Despite being closed for so many years, all the windows were complete and unbroken. It reeked of humidity and abandonment.

"I'm going down. There's nothing up there. And the steps seem strong enough." Jasper, the one who climbed to check, was coming down.

I took a tentative step to the stairs, the handrail was attached to the wall and Jasper was right. It looked firm. I put my hand on it and climbed the first step. Nothing happened. Feeling more confident, I climbed a few more steps.

"It's really firm, but it's a bit slippery." I slid my foot on the step to show the guys what I was talking about. Edward was anxious so I decided to descend. When I was at his reach, he pulled me into his chest and sighed.

"I'd like to finish this week with nothing more than a few headaches caused by hangovers. I don't want to see you hurt."

"Ok."

I would had stayed in his warm embrace if it wasn't for Cynthia coughing to get our attention.

"Your friends are leaving, Edward." She glared at me before turning around and running back.

"What is wrong with her?" Edward asked. I noticed that little Miss young and naïve was developing a crush on whom she considered was her savior.

"I think she won't like me being around you."

He dropped his head down, clearly annoyed. "Well, she will have to learn that you're my girl and I don't want anybody else. I'm just being nice with two scared girls, but I don't want her to think there's a chance I might like her in that way."

My mind got stuck in the part where he called me 'his girl'.

"Poor Edward is breaking hearts all around. Now, James and Vicky are ready to leave. That girl must feel completely miserable by this stage of the pregnancy." That was Irina, who still doesn't warm up to me.

Edward nodded and softly left me down, standing on my feet. I let him go to talk with James, they were close friends after all and decided to have a little chat with miss sunshine over here.

"Why are you so rude to me?"

"You broke his heart."

"I didn't! It was all a misunderstanding."

She crossed her arms into her chest. "Well, excuse me if I'm not pleased with you hanging around him, but I saw it when his heart broke. I was with him when he entered the dinner and you were with Michael and he dared put his arm into your chair then into your shoulder like he was hugging you."

Oh. I felt a horrible pain in my chest.

"Of course, Edward left before seeing how you pushed Michael away and he never listened to me. But you got the gist of why I'm leery of letting you get closer to him."

I nodded. "But you also saw my heartache."

She shrugged her shoulders. "I'm still watching you, I'm not afraid to break my nails to whoop your ass. Now let's talk about something more important. I don't trust these Brandon girls."

Uh?

"Why? I've had a few words with Alice and she seems honest. She's just scared."

"But the sister looks like butter wouldn't melt in her mouth. She played the 'I'm too innocent' card and now that she's sure we'll help them she's getting out her claws."

"Hmm, she got jealous when I was with Edward."

"See? We have to keep an eye on them. Vicky corroborated their story, yes it's true their father is a sick drunk bastard. But she admitted to only being close to Alice."

I mulled about what Irina said, and agreed with her to keep an eye in the Brandon girls.

"Come, let's go with the others, it's getting colder and we have lot's to do."

xxx

As the night came, Seth and Jasper settle the fire pit for our bonfire. I was helping Lauren and Alice to get drinks and hotdogs for dinner.

"I don't think the food will last 'til Thursday. I swear each of the boys will eat five or six of these." She plucked a sausage with a fork.

"Give them a break, it was a day full of hard work and a couple of scares." Alice giggled. She was still amused of the way she scared us at first with the noises and the glass ball.

"Yeah, Emmett would say they are still growing up."

"Sure, to the sides," Lauren replied.

We took the trays with food to a table near the fire, and I asked Cynthia, who was right beside me, to bring the tongs and plates we left in the kitchen.

Cynthia surely was about to give me a rude answer, but she just huffed and left. Lauren was glaring to Cynthia's retreating form and I'm sure Alice noticed it.

The boys noticed we were bringing the food and jumped to help us if only to get eating soon.

"I'll cook." Jasper took the tongs from Cynthia's hands. "I'm the best. Now if you get all the drinks, seasonings and plates, I'm sure we'll be munching this great feast in an instant."

Everybody sat around the fire, drink in hand and joking around. Edward was fast to ask me what I wanted and brought me my drink. He patted the rock beside him and I sat with him.

Soon enough, everybody was joking and reminiscing our most embarrassing moments. Edward mentioned something about Irina, who I'm finding was too impulsive as a child, and Irina decided to retaliate.

"Bella, did Edward mention how it was his first kiss?" She wriggled her brows and burst out laughing when Edward growled.

"No, he promised to tell me the story later."

"Well, now it's later." She took a sip of her drink. "I'm not sure if you met my aunt Kate?"

I shook my head.

"Oh, she's the black sheep of the Hamilton. She always went against my grandparents wishes." Irina sighed. "Anyway, she's ten years older than me and when I was a kid I always thought she was the coolest girl ever. I always was imitating whatever she did and it may had got me punished a couple of times." She giggled.

Edward growled again. "Got US punished a lot of times."

"One day when we were six or seven, I saw Kate making out with her boyfriend. I got curious and grilled her later. She told me that grown-ups give that kind of kisses and she explained how she used her tongue because I seriously thought he was eating her." Irina had everybody's attention. "I was curious, so I took the only boy I trusted enough to try it, my best friend Edward." She elbowed him and he dropped his head into my lap. "I took him to our backyard because I didn't want my mother to discover us and asked him if he was a big boy or a wimp. Edward yelled that he was a big boy and I took him by the shoulders and stuck my tongue into his mouth just like Kate told me."

Everybody chuckled. It wasn't as bad as Edward thought, and that's what I told him.

"There's more," He said.

"Oh, right. To make the kiss worth remembering, I repeated my best tongue moves for a minute, which caused my saliva to pool into his mouth. He found it disgusting, pushed me and then proceeded to puke on my mother's most prized roses bush."

Irina's story had everybody guffawing.

"No way! Eddie got his first kiss and he puked." Jasper yelled.

"Shut up! You didn't fare so well as someone told me." Lauren slapped his arm.

"Uh?"

"Johana told me you licked her face. Eww!"

xxx

After two hours of joking, drinking and bringing back funny stories, we were all tipsy and we lost our filter. So I took the chance to ask Irina what was her deal with Jacob Black.

"So Irina, are you dating Jacob?" My question made all the heads turn to Irina; Jacob was despised by most of us and it was difficult to imagine two so different persons together.

"Give me more vodka and I'll tell you. That is really one of the worst decisions I ever made." Jessica poured a generous quantity of liquor which Irina drank in two sips. "I broke with my last boyfriend Ricky in January. I thought we loved each other but one day I woke up really early and caught him stealing money from my wallet. So I kicked him out of my apartment and got back home for a week. I went to Ulley's, the bar outside Forks." Everybody nodded, we all got wasted once or twice there. Cheap alcohol and Sam's comprehensive ears made it a great spot to drink your sorrows. "I was truly hurt and felt like a fool. I always thought I wasn't careless with money but to get to the extreme when someone steals and you don't notice it until you see it with your own eyes... I got drunk, Jacob heard me and he also told me the sad story of his unrequited love for Bella..." All eyes were on me and I blushed.

"I always thought it was only a crush and I always was clear to him. But he felt entitled..."

"Exactly! He felt like it was your duty to give him a chance. We drank and somehow ended at his house having sex. I woke up the next day and ran from his house. That was the epitome of 'walk of shame'. Well, since then, he thinks we are an 'item' and keeps following me and trying to get me to agree to be his girl. The bastard even told my mother we dated, and it wasn't true!"

The boys muttered curses and the girls promised to help Irina. But it was Edward's reaction what got me shivering. He was tightening his fist so much his knuckles were white. Sometimes I forget he really hates Jacob.

Now, Irina's sad story downed the festive mood and everybody agreed it was a good time to call it a night. I offered to put the fire out and the rest had the trash stashed in bags. Our friends left while I stood up and took Edward's hand.

"Come, let's take a walk and talk," I said.

He nodded and guided me to the pool, where there were a few benches.

"It's really clean now. I think we can fill it tomorrow in the morning." I sat and he sighed. He crouch on his knees in front of me and took my face between his hands.

"Did he ever tried to, to..."

"Who?"

"Jacob. Did he ever try to force you?"

"Oh no. He always gave me the creeps, so I kept someone besides me when I knew we would see him. I knew about his crush because he left love letters and little trinkets at my porch. I made sure Charlie gave them back to him. I always was clear that I was not interested. Why are you so worried? Shouldn't you be worried for Irina?"

"Oh, but I am. Jacob has a way to get our parents to believe he's always the victim. He distorts the truth and gets away with his wrongdoings." He closed his eyes. "I'm going to talk with Lucy as soon as we get back. She shouldn't pressure Irina to see that dimwit."

Now that he got quiet he was staring into my eyes. Had I ever mentioned how green are his eyes? They have some fierce desire in them, smoldering. His left hand caressed my cheek and slowly, he tilted his head to mine and I opened a bit my mouth ready to finally get to feel his lips on mine.

It was heaven. Light and gentle. His lips were soft and the way he held me like I was made of porcelain, like he treasured me above everything else...

"Oh, Bella!" He whispered.

But because life sucks, something had to ruin our moment. Something crashed outside.

"Did you hear it?" I asked.

It was probably a racoon looking if we left food thrown on the grass." He pulled me to kiss him again and I gladly acquiesced. Initially soft and gentle pressure, the he nibbled on my lips, outlining them before his tongue made his way inside my mouth and I was a goner. But then something pushed us to the floor.

"Hey!"

Edward lifted me and looked frantically around. No one was in the room with us.

He ran his hands through his hair. "I think it's better if we go to our room to sleep. I'll felt better once you're in the company of the girls."

I nodded and as we left, I could swear I saw a strawberry blond woman looking at us from the glass wall.


	7. Chapter 7

**EPOV**

Last night I had the greatest joy in my whole life and it was tainted by the greatest scare. What the hell was going on around here? I tried to sleep, but my mind kept replaying that moment, just when I was at the doors of heaven feeling Bella in my arms and kissing her with all my might, I felt it. Someone, something pushed us. It wasn't like a pair of hands, it was more like a log pushing against us. To make matters worst, Bella was sure the strawberry blond woman was watching us.

I'd been visiting this place since I was a kid and I never felt something strange, sure, sometimes it was creepy in its own abandonment, but it was a safe place where I could play. As long as I didn't pass near the moose head.

I heard noises on the kitchen and then realized that the sun was right up in the sky. Some of the others were already up and getting ready for the day. I made my way to the kitchen only to be received by the angry glare of Rose.

"Hey!"

She growled.

I took a mug and went to the coffeemaker, but her hand stopped me.

"I'm glad you two are finally together, but I completely disagree with you two taking that step so soon."

She saw my confusion because she added. "We all heard the bed banging the wall."

I still didn't get it.

"Edward, the bed where you and Bella consummated your love banged on the wall and kept us awake. What a way to embarrass my cousin." She shooked her head in disappointment.

"But we didn't..."

"Dude! We heard it! Not that I mind, we all know you and Bella belong together but have a bit of compassion for us poor peasants without our girlfriends. Worst, you know about my lower back pain. I need to sleep in that bed." Quill stole my mug when he said his last words.

"No, you don't understand. We didn't do... that. We talked in the benches by the pool, and yeah we kissed, but that was everything we did before..."

"Then there was the crying..." Jasper said; he was coming from the back.

Rose turned to look at him. "That I didn't hear. At least from the girls room we didn't hear it."

"Guys, there's isn't a bed in the whole building. We sweep all the rooms yesterday." I said and finally got another mug for my coffee.

Rose seemed to mull on what I said. "Ok, I thought you found one in the attic or the basement. It was a loud, strong noise banging the walls."

This was getting weirder by the second.

"Something happened to us too."

Jasper wriggled his brows and I slapped his head. "Not like that, you perv! What I mean, is that we heard noises and then something pushed us..."

Quill almost dropped my ex-mug. "You may have a ghost here! How old is this building?" he was giddy in excitement.

"I don't know. A ghost? I thought we had an infestation of raccoons. Those creepers are evil." I shook my head. What else could be capable of push us with such a force and remain invisible?

"Maybe the pipelines aren't in great conditions?" Rose was still considering all the possibilities.

"Maybe, but something out there pushed us. I'm thinking a big bat or a big bird?" Bella came smiling into the kitchen. She stole my mug, but I gladly give it to her just to see her smile. "It felt like something big pushed us down, but I didn't hear its wings. Really weird, isn't it?"

With Bella here, I kind of lost track of our friends coming for breakfast, or what did we eat, or if we had a ghost. I just had her delicate hand in mine and stared at her beautiful eyes. That was until Emmett elbowed me.

"Why did you made her cry?"

"I didn't..."

"We heard it. Oh, and you weren't a bit subtle with your little romp. You kept us awake! I need my beauty sleep," he wriggled his brows to Rose who just rolled her eyes.

Bella gasped. "Oh, but we didn't..." She turned to me. "Did you tell them?"

I took her face in my hands. I wasn't going to let a little misunderstanding mess with our newly established relationship. "I told them we kissed. Apparently when they heard some banging noises they thought we..."

Bella just nodded, but Emmett expected some kind of explanation. "Well, then who made the noise?"

Quill jumped to answer. "A ghost! We have the weird noises, someone crying, and they say something pushed them."

"The pipelines!"

"A big bird?"

"The ghost!"

Everybody argüed, and while I found it amusing, we needed to get back to work.

"Ok, why don't we finish breakfast and get to work. We have the majority of the rooms clean, so we can start painting those. Who wants to take a look at the attic? The basement was fine as I already checked it with Seth yesterday."

The chores were distributed and everybody was set to work. We decided to let the attic for the last because we weren't so sure to have time to finish the rest. Jasper, Seth, and Paul, who had a bit of knowledge of plumbing decided to check the pipelines and the whole electric wiring. I went out with Emmett to clean the stairs from the lighthouse.

At eleven in the morning, it didn't have that eerie air of emptiness it had yesterday. We were fast to clean and add a pair of anti-slip strings to avoid accidents. I thought we could suggest the future new owner to build a rail for the stairs.

But somehow, I felt someone was watching us. Emmet must be had felt it too because he threw me one rag and made me look behind him. No one was there.

"I think it's Rosalie. She's been giving these looks... Do you think she may like me after all these years? She and Bella deleted their facebook accounts so I'm not sure what went on in Rosalie's life and she's pretty reserved to share anything personal."

"Hmm, I'm not sure. I kind of have an inkling of what happened," Emmett looked at me with the hope I would share." But it's pretty personal and I'm sure she will tell you if you're patient with her. I'm not sure if she likes you, you blew your chance back then so you may have to work your ass up to woo her properly."

"I still feel someone is watching me."

"Watching us, I felt it too." I was closer to one of the windows and easily took a look outside. Cynthia was running behind Seth who apparently took her roller with paint and was teasing her. They seemed pretty entertained so I didn't think they were watching us.

"Nope. Nothing from the outside."

Emmett looked up to the ceiling with lights and sighed. "I guess we'll have to climb up there."

Between the two of us, we cleaned and wiped our way to reaching the highest part, but the stairs were more slippery and after two times where we almost fell we declared the lighthouse clean and decided to keep the rest for when the others could help us with a ladder and we went down.

When we reached the floor, a piece of paper fell slowly from around the lights. It took it a minute to reach the floor. It was an old envelope directed to Miss Tanya Denali, but it was empty.

"You know, Quill may be right. You have a ghost here. The ghost of a stranded mailman who lost his precious cargo up in the lighthouse." He cackled.

"Shut up! How did this envelope get there? And how did it manage to keep this shape with all the humidity? This thing was closed for about twenty years, maybe there's a hole in the roof and it flew inside..."

The envelope, besides a few smudges of dirt, was perfectly fine. The ink which spelled the name was perfectly clear, but besides the name it didn't have anything about the sender.

"It looks like a bill, but it doesn't state which company sent it. Maybe a personal letter?"

Emmett took it from my hand and turned it around. "Yep, now do you know if there's a Tanya Denali in town? Maybe James could help, let's call him."

Emmett skipped all the way back, and he was a sight to behold. At 6´5'', he was the further you can think of a child, yet he was jumping around with a bucket and a mop and singing the 'Ghostbuster's' theme song. He even went as far as to shake his booty, but graceful was one thing he never was so the image was too funny.

I thought the others would burst out laughing at the sight of Emmett, but they were waiting outside and discussing something.

"Edward, look what we found in one of the closets," Rosalie yelled.

Seth and Jasper brought a big wooden sign, the kind that you hung on the entrance of an establishment... it said 'Cullen's Bed and Breakfast.'

"See I told you." Rose's smug voice said.

xxx

While we shared how they found the sign and how we found the envelope, the girls prepared lunch. Quill was super excited claiming the ghost may have sent that letter and it got lost, so he suggested we found this Tanya and mention we found the envelope. Emmett thought someone was playing a prank on us and Alice was quiet mumbling how she never met a Tanya Denali living in this town, but given that this was a B&B, she was probably a guest.

We ate lunch sharing our wild guesses when I noticed Bella wasn't with us. I was sure she left to bring another pitcher of lemonade, but she hadn't come back. Neither did Cynthia.

Fearing trouble, I walked around looking for both of them. They weren't on the kitchen, but I heard noises in the backyard.

"... you have to let him choose. I'm sure he changed his mind as soon as he met me." It was Cynthia.

"No, you got it wrong. Sure he wants to help you, but..." That was my sweet Bella.

"He likes me! I saw it in his eyes..." Cynthia was standing in front of Bella, there was something in her eyes that made me realize she really believed I liked her.

"He wants to help you, but he doesn't want more from you. He has more things to worry about." Bella was getting angry.

"What? This fake ghost you invented to keep him close to you?" They were getting closer.

"I didn't invent anything! There's something wrong around here."

As Cynthia's hands went up to express her outrage, Bella tried to calm her by hugging her but Cynthia was rather angry, and she pushed Bella back. Being my sweet clumsy Bella, she found the only slippery rock on the floor and she went down, hitting her head before I got to her.

"Ump!"

"Bella!" I ran to her, but she went unconscious.

"Bella! Love, wake up. Open your beautiful eyes!" I was pleading with my girl in my arms when Cynthia started to scream.

"It was an accident! I didn't mean to hurt her!" She was shaking her head, trying to help me to bring Bella back. Suddenly she stopped.

"You love her."

"Of course I love her; after so much time and misunderstanding I finally got her. I'm not going to let you screw my chance with the love of my life!" I knew I was rude, but she was talking about the love of my life, the only woman who completed me.

Cynthia was rather ashamed.

"I thought you..."

"Look, I want to help you. But you have to understand..."

"But you saved me!"

"No, your sister saved you! Had you ever think the sacrifices she went under to help you?"

Cynthia started to cry. She wanted a male figure to be the one to save her, but in reality, Alice sacrificed her future to keep Cynthia out of their father's clutches.

Bella finally came to her senses.

"Edward..."

"Baby, how do you feel?" I kissed her head. Having her in my arms made me feel I really did something to make her feel better.

"Weird? I saw the strawberry blond woman. First she was shocked, but then she smiled when you argüed to Cynthia. Did you really say you loved me?"

"Bella, I loved you since the first ay I met you. Creepy ghosts or deluded girls aside, I love you." I bent down to kiss her softly.

"Oh Edward, I waited so long to hear you said that! I love you too." She kissed me back with all her might. That didn't stop Cynthia from crying, or the cold breeze to circle us and blew the envelope away from my reach. This was the moment I realized there was something out of this world in my uncle's property.

* * *

Hi! What do you think? Cynthia was really out of her mind believing Edward preferred her over Bella, but there are a few bits of the ghost story coming out...

Next, they will set to search about this mysterious Tanya.

Now, I finally got my groove back for my other stories. I plan to post 'A mother's advice' every two weeks (considering it will be longer chapters). I'll post the next chapter of 'Milford Creek? tomorrow but I still owe you the pictures of the Milford creek coven because my son is helping me to make them look better.

Thanks for reading.

See ya!

P.S. Thanks to Marty's for her suggestion, I corrected as soon as you made me see it ;)


	8. Chapter 8

**EPOV**

"Are you having fun with your friends darling?" Aunt Esme was the one who answered the phone when I called back home. I wanted to know why they never mentioned this house was a B&B or that it was a Cullen property.

"Yeah, but it's just our second day. You'll be glad to know that the building was in great shape, we probably will finish with the upstairs rooms and the living room today."

"That's great. I knew if you took a bunch of your friends you could make it. Are you eating all your meals? Do you need more money?"

"No, no. We are fine. It's just that I found this property wasn't a home like I always thought. And it was owned by my uncle? How come I never knew the story behind this lighthouse?"

"Oh." Aunt Esme sounded dejected. "Well, you were bound to find one day. It was the little business your grandparents owned. Sure, you don't remember because they died when you were a baby, and then your parents were already established in Chicago. Carlisle was still single, and he decided to close the business because we were talking about marriage and moving to Forks. I suppose we have a picture or something with your father and Carlisle when they were kids... let me look out for that picture and I'll show it to you when you come back. Why are you asking?"

"Well," this was tricky because I couldn't tell her we found a ghost living here, but I wanted to find out the story behind it. "Just curiosity because we found the old wooden sign from the front. Maybe uncle Carlisle could help me..."

"Uhm, well, he's out for the day. But I think he doesn't have good memories from that place because he always was hesitant to come back. It got worst after your father died. I'll ask him to call you when he comes back."

Bella was sitting in my lap hearing everything Esme said. She was the one who pushed me to make the call. I tried to set Bella to rest on a bunch of our sleeping bags. She was adamant to stay here and didn't want to see a doctor. Then, of course, Alice took Cynthia to their room and gave her the mother of all reprimands. We didn't want to witness it, but it was unavoidable. They remain in their room and that's when Bella pushed me to make the call. She was sure someone may have heard a rumor of a tragic death or a restless spirit. Too bad Aunt Esme knew nothing.

xxx

"And did you expect something from your aunt? She never lived here. If there was the rumor of a ghost she probably never heard about it." Jasper mentioned after my call.

Bella was still resting and we decided to keep working. Now, while the rest painted the few rooms we had left upstairs, Jasper, Rosalie, Bella and I were polishing the wooden floors and cleaning what we knew now was the lobby.

Rose was brave enough to lift the blanket over the moose head and started to clean it. Then suddenly she jumped back.

"Oh my God! His eyes really follow you." Rose screamed while walking from side to side.

Bella giggled and stood up, walking to Rose's side. "You're right. Let's walk to the other side." And they walked and giggled like maniacs.

"You know, I was a kid and it terrified me. No need to mock me." I said.

Jasper was grumbling when Bella threw a rag to him.

"You should visit my uncle Bobby Joe's cabin. He's a taxidermist." Jasper told us. "He has an entire jar full of glass eyes. That is truly creepy."

"The one who gave Emmett his N'sync squirrels?" I asked laughing. Jasper nodded. "Accordingly to Emmett it was the best birthday gift ever. They were a group of squirrels mounted on a board with their movable jaws, so when Emmett pressed play on the only bottom it had, 'Tearing up my heart' blasted and the squirrels moved their mouth along."

"What? Tell me you have pictures!" Rose was jumping in enthusiasm.

"Sadly, he gave them to Emmett when we were kids. No parent wanted to take a picture of them. Emmett loved those squirming beasts until her mother 'accidentally' burned them." I shook my head remembering how he cried for his burned idols.

Jasper got pensive and then he got close to Rose. "Why did you never come back? You closed your facebook account and never answered our emails or phone calls. You knew Emmett and me loved you. You could have trusted us."

Rosalie blushed. "It was a... family problem. I don't want to talk about it." She dropped her rag and walked outside.

I sighed and looked at Bella; she told me she would deal with Jasper and I ran to reach Rosalie.

"Wait, wait!"

She stopped and sat on one log. "Argh!" She screamed and kicked her legs in frustration.

"Rose, you have to give them at least the Cliffs notes version. They will worry because we all missed you."

"I know. It got worst when Jessica asked what were our plans after college." She sighed.

"I don't remember talking about that."

"It was when we went to sleep. We tried to talk, making time and waiting for Bella. We wanted the details of your..." She blushed. "Anyway, I probably rambled something and they knew there was something wrong. We turned off the lights and tried to sleep after that."

"Rose, if you don't mind me asking. What are your plans?"

"What do you plan to do? Did reconnecting with Bella change your plans?"

I sighed. "No. I, I may be able to move wherever you plan to move. I'm going to manage the family properties. I could do it anywhere."

"Are you sure you'll move just to stay close to Bella? You may have been in love for ages, but in reality you've been together for two days."

"I'm completely sure I'm going to try. I never met someone like her, she's the only one who makes me feel this way. I'm sure we can make it."

Rose sighed. "We were saving, you know? We planned to set a little activity center for children like the one we went as kids in Phoenix."

I looked at her. "Keep going."

"Well, it was like a daycare, only it was for working mothers and for older kids. Mom was always busy and Aunt Renee had to take a few courses and needed someone who could stay with us in the afternoon. So she took us there. They helped you with homework, they had dance lessons and guided trips to the park. It was so fun!" She had a wistful smile. "But now, I don't know what to do. We tied our money to my mother's business and she's determined to keep us in Phoenix. She wants us, or at least me, to stay with her. Just like your uncle."

"It's just that you don't really want to..."

"Exactly. I love kids. I also happen to think this business led to my parents divorce, made them forget about me... I hate it. I hate Phoenix." She started to sob and I hugged her to comfort her while she cried.

Suddenly I felt the cold breeze surrounding us and Rose screamed.

"Stop it!"

Something was pulling her hair in the air with such a force that Rose got to stand up.

"No!" I screamed, "Let her go! She's my friend, almost family."

The ghost must have heard me because she left Rose who kept rubbing the back of her head. That's when I realized the ghost listened to me.

xxx

"James! Come here, my man. Where did you leave your gorgeous wife?" Jasper guided James to the firepit, where Paul was trying to set a fire.

"She's with her mother. They plan to make a trip to the mall early in the morning to get her choose her gift list for the baby shower. So I'm yours 'til tomorrow night. And look what I brought..." He opened the case he had on his hands and took his beloved guitar out. It received with cheers from everybody.

Lauren came to him and gave him a beer.

"Let's toast for that. To the sweet music, that James will play and the horrendous howls we'll make"

"Cheers!"

Everybody clapped and joined James at the firepit. Completely unaware of the afternoon events. We decided to keep the afternoon scare to us. I felt like I managed to communicate with the ghost and she complied to leave Rose alone, but now I wanted to know how could we hear what she wanted. Clearly, tonight it won't happen.

xxx

"Oh, I forgot I brought this for you." He pulled out a picture from the case. " After you mentioned the sign, I asked her if she knew about the B&B. Turns out my mother in law met your parents, and she had a crush on, and I quote 'the wonderful ginger Cullen twin'."

I took a look at the picture. It was from a party, just like what we had around here at this moment. My parents were standing at the center with many people around. I passed the picture to Bella, and then it went on around our group.

"She told me your parents had a lavish wedding in Chicago, but for their friends over here they made a party. She was already married and pregnant with Vicky, but she came to say farewell to the one who got away." James smiled.

"Look! Edward, you look exactly like your father." Jessica said.

"Like your uncle too. Only he's blond and has blue eyes. Oh, your dad too." That was Lauren.

"Vicky's mom said that she completely disliked Carlisle because he was a player going from girl to girl. She told me took advantage of working around here, wooing the female guests, who left here brokenhearted when he went for the next girl."

"Oh my! I can't picture serious Carlisle Cullen like that. Esme has him whipped. He never looks at any other woman." Jasper pointed out.

"She was his one. The one who completes him." Jessica said wistfully.

The picture made its round back and Bella was looking intently at something. Then she got pale.

"Edward, " she whispered, "look over here at the back. That's the woman, she's the strawberry blond woman we have been seeing."


	9. Chapter 9

**EPOV**

The next morning, James led me to the bench near the pool to talk while we shared a mug of coffee.

"There's something going on around here and you haven't told me."

I nodded. Would he laugh when I mention we found a ghost?

"If something is happening with Bella... I mean, she looks at you like you hung the moon, and it's obvious that your feelings for her haven't changed."

"No. It's something completely different." I exhaled. I told James everything, the cold breezes, the noises, the envelope, Rose's hair.

"So it's something everybody it's witnessing."

I nodded.

"And you think it's related to this mysterious Tanya Denali?"

Before I had the chance to answer, Bella and Rose were here with their respective cups of coffee.

"Well, the envelope had her name and I think I saw her in the picture you brought. I think she's trying to communicate, but she doesn't know how. It isn't like there's a manual to tell your message to the living." Bella gave me a little peck on the lips and sat on my lap.

James beamed, seeing me cuddling with Bella. He knew how much she meant to me.

The bright red and blue lights of a police car shone upon us and James said something that sounded a lot like shit.

"I forgot to tell you. Vicky told officer Daniels about you and the Brandon girls. He promised to come around to check on them and to offer you an apology for letting them inside your property, but it was the only place where they could hide. He's been helping them bringing them food and clothes."

Sure enough, a young man descended from the police car, but a familiar SUV was parking behind it.

"Good morning guys! I see James told you about my friends." The young man came closer smiling to us.

Bella was the first to greet him and asked him if he wanted a cup of coffee.

"No thanks. Hmm, before the others come, I want to ask a little favor; please don't mention around town that Alice and Cynthia are hiding here. Mr. Brandon is really a disgusting man, but he's one of the Chief best buddies, so he counts on the fear of the others to tell him where his daughters are hiding."

"Don't worry. Alice is really nice and I think we can help her to establish far away from here." Rosalie craftily pointed out.

Daniels knew what she was talking about. "Please, be patient with Cynthia. They had a rough life, and she was too young when their father showed his true colors."

Someone opened the door of the SUV and I heard one voice I really didn't expect to hear.

"Edward! I'm here!" It was Angela. She came skipping around but the moment she saw Bella by my side she frowned.

Bella didn't waste a second and put her arm around my waist, making sure Angela knew I was taken. From the other door, descended the other person who I tried to keep away from our little trip. Jacob Balck.

"Well, Cullen it seems like your little repair job will be finished on time now that you have four more hands to get it done." His words were directed to me, but his eyes never left Bella.

I was about to ask him how he knew where to find us, but Angela offered an explanation.

"Mrs. Hamilton was so nice to ask us to come to help you. She was worried because Irina left without a word and then Esme told her she may be here with you, so she asked us to come to help you and to find Irina. It was such a shame that my mother caught the flu, forcing her to stay at home to watch my brothers." She tried to smile for the last part, but the fact that Bella was still fiercely holding me refrained Angela to show enthusiasm.

Officer Daniels noticed the tension and decided that a graceful departure, now that he said what he was meant to say, was the best way to proceed.

"Hmm, well, they were wandering around town and I offered to help. So, if you need some help... I'll see you around." he quickly walked back to his car, leaving us with the only two persons who no one in our group wanted here.

Jacob, being the obnoxious jackass he was, decided to 'break the ice'.

"Hmm, Rosalie, why don't you bring me a cup of coffee. It was a long journey and we left Forks too early."

Rose's glare would make his ball shrink and hide if he dared to take a look at her, but his eyes were glued to my girl. Now, I was the one who hugged her.

"Oh shit! What are you doing here?" Irina came to see what was going on, and she saw Jacob eye fucking my girl.

"Irina! your mother was so worried that she asked us to come and look out for you." Angela walked to Irina and tried to hug her, but Irina was so focused glaring at Jacob that she never acknowledge Angela's effort to greet her.

"I asked you to leave me alone. You were a mistake, a drunken mistake." Irina was glaring at Jacob. I couldn't fathom what he expected. He knew we all hated him and Irina wasn't welcoming him. Why come to a place where nobody liked you?

By now, everybody was awake and looking our new partners with weary eyes. Sure, we all hated Jacob because he always got us in trouble, but Angela only troubled me. Or so I thought.

"Hi, Angela. What are you doing here? Does the reverend know it isn't a female only party?" Seth nervously asked.

"Oh, he doesn't know I'm here. But my mother is taking care of my brothers, like she should be, so I'm free to visit whomever I want." She answered defiantly.

"Why don't you come to the house? The breakfast is ready." Alice, completely unaware of the tension between us, guided our new guests to the house.

James also took it as a sign to leave early. He whispered in my ear that he would come back with answers, but he said out loud "Rose is going to help to get the missing supplies. We'll be back in a couple of hours, guys. Maybe we'll be able to use the pool when we come back."

Bella nodded to him and gently pushed me back to the house. It was her silent way to make me feel she was there supporting me while making sure to our new guests that we were a couple and unavailable for anyone.

But I couldn't stop thinking that if our ghost was so hostile to friendly gestures, like Rose hugging me when she cried; how would it react to Angela or Jacob?


	10. Chapter 10

**EPOV**

After the most awkward breakfast ever, we decided to get to work. What else was to do?

I gave Jacob a ladder and showed him where he, Angela, Alice and Cynthia were supposed to paint. We divided the outside of the house in four and we set to work while we waited for James and Rose.

Jessica and Lauren set a couple of speakers outside and we worked quietly to the beat of cheesy nineties pop. Emmett, being the child he usually was, held the ladder while Jasper climbed and decided to join Britney Spears in her desperate chant to get hit one more time. The way he mimicked Britneys face and the loud soulful voice he used to sing got us in stitches. Soon we all joined him, because what else we could do to break the tension?

What I didn't notice, was that Jacob was behind us taking a video with his phone. If he thought he would embarrass us he got disappointed when Irina charged to him, and pull her more advanced phone to film us, even coming closer to Emmett for a close up and he didn't disappoint.

"What? Boys, you can choose a song for us girls, this is supposed to be fun too, you know." Irina glared at Jacob.

Jacob mumbled something I couldn't hear and he left to his side of the house.

"Oh, poo. Did I bother that poor young man?" Irina said all seriousness, only the spark on her eyes betraying which were her true intentions. "Well, I guess the show is over, so I'll go back to my side. We're almost finished anyway."

I laughed. I guess she found her own way to deal with Jacob's obnoxiousness.

"I heard you said we were going to expand our living quarters. I have only one advice for all of us men," Seth stood behind me, suddenly very serious and leaving all jokes aside. "Please, don't let Miss Angela get to you alone in a room; there's a reason why her family isn't welcomed at the rez."

Paul and Quill nodded.

"Really? I thought it was only with me."

"It was different. You see, we have certain rituals in the rez." Sure they always disappeared from time to time but we respected their time in 'official business'. "One was some kind of rite of passage, at the waterfall. It's some kind of treasure hunt and it finishes when you find all your trinkets and ran to submerge in the warm waters. Only the young adult males participate while the rest of the tribe watches from above. Well, last time we tried it, the first of us who finished ran joking and horsing around to the hot water... only to find a very naked Angela in the bushes that lead to the water. Of course, she started to scream and yelled 'rape' immediately. Reverend Webber was adamant to call the police when we called him, but once the elders explained they watched everything from above and mentioned it all happened in our sacred land... well, the police dropped Angela's allegations and now we don't allow them in the rez."

"Did she really alleged rape?"

Seth's hand ran to the back of his neck. "Well, I guess watching a group of men, practically naked running to where you are could be frightening. But she didn't have to be there, least of all naked. We were sure she was with her boyfriend from that time, that guy from Port Angeles, and he ran leaving her alone. The reverend never apologized and he still blame us for 'scaring' his precious innocent daughter."

xxx

James and Rose came back later and were fast to set the hose to fill the pool. Not that we would really swim today. It was still cold and it takes too much time to fill the pool and warm the water.

James offered to refill our buckets with paint and then he told me they had a chat with the old lady at the mail post.

"She got so excited to know about you. She said your father was kind and your uncle was a rascal." James wriggled his brows.

"I still can't picture my uncle like that. What else she said?"

"Well, this is going to blow your mind. Apparently, the redhead woman whose name was Tanya was your uncle's girlfriend. And she was a great friend to your mother. She didn't remember if she was a guest or just passing by, though. It was a long time ago, and your uncle apparently changed girlfriends as he changed his underwear, old Mrs. Jones Dixit."

James laughed at my evident shock. "I'm going to call Vicky, and I'll be back to help you. Emmett is about to move the ladder and Jasper is about to drop his paint bucket on Emmett's head. You need to control those kids."

"Emmett!" I ran to them before everything went out of control.

xxx

"You've been serious the whole day. What's bothering you?" Bella asked when she brought me a can of soda.

"Uff." I exhaled. "I don't know what to think, did Rose tell you that the ghost is really Tanya, right?"

Bella nodded.

"But to find that she was friends with my mother..."

"And she was Carlisle's girlfriend. That boggles me. Your uncle is so... uptight. He really must had changed after he met Esme."

The cold breeze passed again, and this time we shivered.

"What are we gonna do with our new guests?"

"I don't know. Maybe now that we had the upper floor ready we could sleep in more rooms like Jasper suggested that at breakfast. But I don't think anyone would like to sleep with Jacob."

"Or Angela. We girls don't like her either."

"Excuse me." A fat tall man stood in front of us.

"Hmm, yeah? How can we help you?"

The old man nodded. "I don't know if you're aware that this is private property." He crossed his big arms on his equally big chest. Like he had the right to question our presence here.

"Yeah, this is my uncle's home. I'm Edward Cullen." I stood and offered my hand. This guy gave me the wrong vibes, but I had to keep him appeased until we knew what was his deal. I was sure he was snooping around before coming to us.

The man huffed, but he shook my hand. "I'm Aaron Brandon. I'm looking out for my daughters, and when they told me around town that a group of kids was here, I thought I could ask."

Oh. Quickly, I thought of a diversion plan. Young woman as his daughters, a young woman... right, I knew about one. Divert attention, divert attention...

"Are you Vicky's father? She's the only girl we met from around town. But you have to know James told us she went to set her list for the baby shower."

"Oh, no. I didn't know you were friends with the Hunter kids."

"Yep, he and I go way back. Then who are you talking about? We haven't met any other girl from here." I quickly said. I knew throwing Vicky's name out would confuse him. He didn't recognize the Cullen name so they probably moved after my uncle left.

"Oh, not her. Could you give me a call of you see them? They're a bit smaller than your girlfriend, black hair. I'm afraid they got lost and the younger one has to take her medicine soon or I'm afraid she's going to have a seizure." He said all seriousness, like he cared. Only we knew it was all a lie.

Mr. Brandon left, still looking behind suspiciously.

"I don't think he bought the whole 'Are you talking about Vicky? thing." Bella stated.

"I know, it was the first thing that came to my mind. I didn't want him to think we knew about his daughters, lest he started to suspect they're around here. Now, if he keeps wandering around here, I can't assure Jacob or Angela would keep it quiet, you know?"

Bella intertwined her fingers with mine.

"But you protected them again."

"They way he came insinuating we were trespassing, when this isn't his business in any way, it rubbed me the wrong way. Even before we knew he was Alice's father."

Bella sighed. "But you're right about Jacob. I can't figure it out what is he doing here. I mean, Angela in a way, is understandable. She wants to spend time with you."

"Ugh! Don't remind me."

"But Jacob knows nobody can stand him, and now that we know what was his deal with Irina, well, nobody in his sane mind would think intruding like this on her vacation would help his situation. I don't think he really likes her, but God knows what goes on inside his head."

"Do you think Mrs. Hamilton paid him to take an eye on Irina?"

"That is... quite possible. But I don't understand why she offered, we know she's dying to set you up with Irina, and having her spending time with you mesh up perfectly with her plans."

I huffed. "Not really. I think right now her greatest concern is that Irina is set to move to San Francisco with her aunt Kate, and well, Lucy Hamilton hates her younger sister. Maybe she sent Jacob in the hope he will convince Irina to stay."

Bella nodded and stared at the lighthouse. We could see the way the breeze moved leafs around going to the back of the lighthouse.

My mind went into another direction. Today was Wednesday. We were just in half of our last vacation together as a group, and I got the feeling that I was missing time with Bella. I have to know about her plans, not Rose's version. And I have to let her know that I was up to move along with her.

"Why don't we have a date today? After the day is settled, we left the guys to manage the fire pit for today and we go and take a walk around town?"

Bella's eyes sparkled. "Sure."

xxx

By twilight, we were almost finished with the house. Tomorrow we planned to get those pesky little details, like one of the faucets, that was leaking. Then I wanted to tackle the attic and the basement. Just to see what we could save.

Emmett was managing the fire pit again, and Jasper was making some kind of concoction with too much alcohol for my taste. I pulled James aside and told him about my plans with Bella, he suggested the little dinner with fifties theme. and he promised to keep an eye on the guys. Apparently Vicky still hasn't come back so he promised to stay one more day.

So Bella and I took the car to the little principal avenue, where the dinner was located. We shared a milkshake and talked about our dreams and hopes.

"But where do you plan to study your masters?" She asked.

"I'm not sure. First I want to make sure I can handle my part of the family business, you know? My uncle is itching to watch me hoping he will retire soon."

"So you are planning to stay in Forks." She swirled the straw around the rim of the glass.

"Hmm, it's complicated." I said and she laughed.

"Complicated like you have other plans and your uncle is forcing you to stay?"

"Sort of; Look, I'm going to put my cards on the table. "

She got serious.

"Rose told me about your plans, the after school activity center."

Bella nodded.

"Where do you plan to set it?"

"I thought a big city because in Forks it would flounder. Maybe Seattle or Portland, to stay close to my parents and Claire."

"Well, I'm still argüing with my uncle because I think I could manage our properties anywhere. Maybe Seattle or Portland. "

She gave me an impish grin. "And if said 'Oops, I have to move to Atlanta?"

"Then I'll try to convince you to stay close but Atlanta is a good place this time of the year."

She slapped my arm playfully. "You've never been in Atlanta."

"What I say is that I'd like to explore where our relationship may go. We've wasted too much time, sure we weren't as close as before, but I never stopped thinking about you Bella."

"Oh, Edward! I never stopped either. It always broke my heart when someone mentioned your name and one of a girl."

"I could say the same. Now, I also feel like we almost run out of time, and...and what I'd like... to say is..."

"I know what you mean, and yes, I'm on the same page. But, but you have already set your business. Rose, as much as it pains me, is out of reality when she thinks we can set the activity center right away. We need to garner experience. My only plan settled as of now, is to come back to Forks when I finish college. Mom got me a little job helping Mrs. Cope with the community center. It would give me experience. Rose, also has to take a few courses. Sure pedagogy it's a great if you want to work with children, but she needs a dose of reality. Life isn't like the school books paint it."

"So you have already plans."

"Nothing set on stone, and I think my plans mesh well with your plans in the beginning; why don't we go on and see how we work together after that?"

I nodded.

"Do you mind if I tell you something about your uncle that really bothers me? I don't want you to get angry, I want to tell you out of concern."

"Sure."

"I think he's selfish and a bit cruel."

I gasped.

"Look, firstly, let me tell you that I think he's an awful businessman. Sure he manages all the properties, but he really just visits once in a year and the he leaves the care of the property in other people hands, right? Then I'm sure he has a lawyer who helps him, or maybe a few, each one close to his properties, then you have an accounting firm and well... this isn't business savvy."

I never consider what she told me.

"I think he knows he's not bright enough to handle the properties, and I assume your aunt know less."

She was right. Aunt Esme left everything for my uncle to manage. She doesn't care.

"Then, and this is what really bothers me, he plans to let you all the responsibility when he really never knew how to handle it, and worst, your first serious job in your business is to set the house of your ancestors ready to sell, the real origin of the house was a mystery that you accidentally discovered. It didn't matter if he suffered in this house, which now that Rose told me how her talk with old lady went, I doubt; but this is the only property who has memories of your parents and he's selling it without giving you the chance to.. to"

"Shh, shh, I understand." Bella was sobbing by the end of her tirade. I'm beginning to think she hates Carlisle. And sadly, she may be right. I just never considered it that way.

"I already decided to tackle the attic, there may be pictures or old things from my father. I didn't want to waste the only opportunity I may have to get back a few memories of him."

"Really?"

"Yes. And what you told me, now gets me thinking why is he so adamant to keep me close. You're right, he doesn't know how to handle anything and now I have to really think which is the best way to take care of our business. Your advice about the experience, well, I need to give it a really serious thought, ok?"

"Excuse me, Mr. Cullen?" It was the same police officer from the morning, but now he was followed by an older detective.

"Yeah?"

"This is Detective Johnson, and I'm Daniels. We want to ask you a few questions if you don't mind."

"Sure, take a seat."

Daniels took it while the other was glaring my way. "It seems like one of our town residents went to visit you in the morning"

I nodded "Yeah, Brandon I think?"

Bella turned to me "Aaron Brandon"

"Well, we haven't seen him after said visit." The other officer spat.


	11. Chapter 11

**EPOV**

"Excuse me, Mr. Cullen?" It was the same police officer from the morning, but now he was followed by an older detective.

"Yeah?"

"This is Detective Johnson, and I'm Daniels. We want to ask you a few questions if you don't mind."

"Sure, take a seat."

Daniels took it while the other was glaring my way. "It seems like one of our town residents went to visit you in the morning"

I nodded "Yeah, Brandon I think?"

Bella turned to me "Aaron Brandon"

"Well, we haven't seen him after said visit." The other officer spat.

"We neither had seen him. He left after asking a few questions. He said something about his daughter..."

The other officer slapped his hand on the table. "He told me he was sure they were hiding there! And now we can't find him."

Bella was the one who glared at him. "Excuse me? We answered that man's questions about his daughters, even when he was rude to us and we weren't obligated. And now you come here and start insinuating..."

"Well, then tell me, where did the man go? You're the only strangers around here, of course, I doubt your intentions. You're just like the rat your uncle was."

Anderson pulled his friend to sit back. "Calm down, he probably tried to call you by now. He must have found a lead to his daughters. These people didn't meet him."

"But then where..."

"Sorry, but we can't help you. He came and asked his questions, then he left."

As we did after hearing that news. I told Alice to stay inside the house after her father's visit in the morning, hoping to keep them hiding. But what if their father saw them and is trying to get inside the house?

xxx

On our way home, I mentioned to Bella what Seth told me about Angela.

"I know. Dad called me when the Reverend was at the police station. Some of us were having a sleepover and Angela said she would be with us. Obviously she wasn't, and Sheryl, the receptionist, let me heard everything. Angela denying breaking any rule, but then how she ended in Quileute land? The Reverend demanding jail for the boys, only to be refused because, well, they answer to the tribe leader and he confirmed their story. You should have heard Angela. She was wailing about her lost virtue, and the Reverend almost blowing a gasket. Then her boyfriend finally came to the police station. He said he went out with Angela a couple of times, and he agreed they entered the rez without permission, but when the Reverend blamed him for his daughter's lost virtue, the guy said she was in the same state he found her... which we know what he meant, but the Reverent took as if Angela was still a virgin. He's really blind with everything about her."

"Damn! And here I was hoping to change our sleeping arrangements. Four boys for room or something like that. I'm sure Lauren and Tyler are desperate to share a room."

Bella burst out laughing. "Hmm, they managed. But I guess you're talking about Angela again."

"How did they... When?"

"Edward, you're really blind sometimes." Bella giggled. "And I think Michael and Jessica are rekindling their relationship too."

"Well, surely that was one of my concerns; but had you slept in the same room as Emmett? He snores! And I don't want to find out who's the one with the gas problem."

xxx

By the time we got home, our rowdy group of friends was a slightly drunk. They were seated around the fire pit and were discussing something serious because as soon as we got closer Jessica rattled a question for me.

"Hey Edward, when was your first time?"

"At college, why?"

Jessica and Lauren giggled. "Angela here, says she's still pure and she's preserving for marriage." Jessica broke out laughing and Lauren had to finish her statement. "Which we think it's fine, but somehow we can't believe her."

"More like a reborn virgin, right Angela?" Irina added.

Angela sat straighter and looked at me. "Well, Dad told me once that men prefer their girls as a new towel. Pure and clean, so they could dry their hands with the security that none of the filth of this world will come closer to their hands. I'm sure you think that way, right Edward?"

"If what you only want is a towel to dry you off. If you're going to set the value of your partner on a measly membrane that can break in a bad fall I mean, what I want is a partner, a woman who completes me." I answered, not sure if Angela got what I meant.

"Bella when was your first time?" Angela quickly asked.

"Hmm, before we left Phoenix. My junior prom." I immediately turned to her. "He was my boyfriend and I knew I would never see him again. We weren't in love, but we cared a lot about each other. I don't have complaints, it was sweet for a first time. No harsh feelings after it ended."

She gave a look that made me feel sure that it was nothing; not that I have the right to object, I made a mess at college. So I took her hand and kissed it.

"So Angela, what were you doing at my brother's birthday party last month?" Michael asked with glee. Jesus! How is it possible that the Reverend still believes his daughter is a virgin?

"Nothing. Hmm, and what about you Rosalie?" Angela was glaring at Bella though, but Emmett and Jasper were surely paying attention to whatever Rosalie answered.

"I also had a boyfriend before coming to Forks, but my experience wasn't as sweet as Bella's. He got a tad possessive and never agreed to let me go. Too bad for him, I wasn't asking." Irina cheered and gave Rose a high five, Angela just huffed and stood to go to sleep.

I went inside to talk to Alice. She was dead worried after finding out her father came to visit in the morning, but I made it clear for her that we would help them. Cynthia, after her outburst, was rather quiet and avoiding me; but she stood close to where I was hearing what I have to say.

"His friend came to us when we were on our date."

"Damn! He's just as vicious as my father. I still don't know why the town keeps him in his job."

"Yeah, well he was very vocal with his opinion. He thinks you're hiding in here, but we denied it. Listen, Alice, he mentioned your father disappeared and I'm worried he's still around. Please, keep Cynthia inside. Not looking out to windows and not going out to help us."

"I feel uncomfortable now. I'm getting you into trouble. Let me help with something."

Bella mentioned Alice probably would feel like this, so she suggested something.

"What if you and Cynthia are in charge of the kitchen? You cook and you wash the dishes. Just stay inside until we get sure he's not snooping around."

xxx

Sleeping arrangements weren't such a problem. For today, we would keep a room for the girls and a room for the guys. Tyler mentioned how the house still felt cold, and he whispered how some of us were worried about the ghost.

Rose was waiting for Angela to leave the bathroom while I went downstairs with Seth to turn off the lights and lock the doors. We still didn't know if Mr. Brandon was around here.

Five minutes later we heard a scream.

We ran upstairs and found Angela crying and Rose pale as our ghost. Rose just pointed to one of the walls we painted yesterday. It had a black hand pointing to the attic.

"It was floating here, and then boom! It was on the wall." Rose whispered.

"Oh, Rose. But you are fine, right?" That was Emmett comforting Rose. Jasper just huffed at the back.

While surely I was scared, what worried me the most was that Jacob was nowhere around. What was he planning?

* * *

Hi! Two chapters this time because I was a bit behind.

Well, what do you think? Did Mr. Brandon act as hateful as Alice described him? And what about Jacob? What is he doing? A few questions will be answered in the next chapter ;)

Happy Thanksgiving! Please eat a slice of pumpkin pie for me, it's my favorite and it isn't easy to find it in my country.

See ya.


	12. Chapter 12

**BPOV**

After's Rose and Angela's shocking discovery, Edward opened the door to the attic and went up, Emmett and Jasper in tow.

Rose was in shock, repeating on and on that first the hand was floating in the air and then it fused with wall making the drawing appear. Or at least that's what I understood. She was sobbing, and stuttering, clinging to my shirt, like leaving her would be possible. Angela, on the other hand, was in full blown panic attack. It took Lauren and Jessica together to make her sit while Irina pushed one cup of tea into her mouth.

"I-it f-flo-oat-ted." Angela stuttered and pointed to the wall. "I-it's the d-deev-vil."

We forgot sometimes that no matter how annoying she is, she's still the reverend's daughter.

"No sweetie, it's an old friend of Edward's family. She doesn't mean harm." Jessica was patting her back, hoping to soothe her.

We heard a mess of noise upstairs, then the cold breeze past making us shiver. Just then, the guys came down, Edward was holding a packet with letters and Jasper hands held an old photo album.

"Jesus! I think she's learning to communicate better." Jasper mouthed.

"Yeah, I tried to turn on the lights, which were broken, and Edward told her that he promised to come back tomorrow, that he also wants to know what was hidding upstairs. That Tanya probably had quite the temper when she was alive, because she moved a shelf until this fell down." Emmett pointed to the objects from the others.

Edward was enthralled in the first envelope, then he looked at the others and sighed. "These are letters Tanya wrote to my mother. What do you have Jazz?"

"Well, pictures of your mother... I guess since she was at college until you were a toddler. You were a cute baby, what happened to you?" Jasper shook his head, he was trying to light the mood.

"Let me see them!" Seth jumped to Jasper. "Your momma was really beautiful. And tall. Now that I think about it, you're way taller than your uncle."

Edward nodded but was concentrated in one of the letters. He passed me the bunch and sat beside me.

"They were roommates, Tanya and my mother. And by the tone of this one, Mom was already married and she warned Tanya about Carlisle. Here Tanya says she was aware of what my mother said, but Carlisle was pursuing her relentlessly."

"Such a dog." I sneered. Somehow I don't think Tanya was a bad girl, just one with one last message to deliver. Well, I hoped that was her reason to remain here.

Jacob came out of one room, slipping his phone to his pocket, completely unaware of what transcurred before. "So, what's going on? Is the party over?"

"I guess so," Paul said. "I think it would be better to go to sleep if we can." He gave Angela and Rose a sad look. "Maybe tomorrow we'll see things on a different light." He also guided Jacob inside the boys' room.

We all call it a night, and I sat with Rose's head on my lap. She was still shuddering, but calmer than before. Angela was about to sleep, Irina probably put something in the tea to relax her.

xxx

I heard noises outside, so I stood up quickly. I was the one closer to the door, so I opened it a bit only to find Alice and Quill trying to take a peak outside but hiding behind the curtains of the window at the end of the hallway.

Alice turned her worried eyes to me. "I think it's my Dad. We can't see a thing, but it sounds like somebody is in the lighthouse."

"Shit! Let me go to..."

Quill shook his head. "No, I want to go, but I didn't want to leave Alice alone. Do you remember where we put the flashlights?"

I walked out of the room, hearing the noises again. "What if it's Tanya? I don't care how good her intentions are, she has a problem getting her point across and I don't know if it's safe to get inside there at night." I argued, but Quill shook his head again.

"If that's the case, she won't hurt me. But, if it's that Brandon guy, we will need to hide the girls and ran him away. This time he's trespassing private property." He was already making his way down. His heavy steps echoed in the hallway, waking up Emmett and Edward.

"What happened?" Emmett asked.

I asked him to glance through the window when the noises started again.

"Quill is going to check. We don't know if it's Brandon or if it's Tanya."

"We're going with him. You just keep looking over here and Alice, please stay inside no matter what you hear. We're three big guys against one measly fat old man." He winked at Alice and left. Edward just put his stack of letters in my hands and kissed my forehead.

I watched, with rapt attention, how they walked around the lighthouse slowly. Emmett was making some sort of signs with his hands and suddenly Quill kicked the door open. They disappeared inside and the noises stopped.

Alice held my hand for the ten minutes they were inside, as anxious as me to know who was making all that noise.

Then they walked out, laughing and fist bumping. When Edward came in, he saw my worried face and smiled.

"It was empty. Emmett climbed to the top and said that appart from a disgruntled bird, he didn't find anything. So, he came with an idea..."

"That we won't tell you until tomorrow when I determine if it's feasible." Emmett interrupted.

"Oh, come on! It's a great idea, Emmett."

"Nah, we need to work on the electricity inside the lighthouse. A few lights upon the stairs ... and my magical plan. It depends on..."

Jacob made his way to us and Emmett suddenly changed his demeanor.

"But you can sleep at ease, Alice. Probably it was the bird, a pelican nesting at the top."

Alice winked at Emmett and still with my hand in hers, led me to our room.

"You want to know something? That Jacob spends too much time on his phone on his spare time. And he watches you like a hawk. Were you...?"

"No! Never! And I thought he was here for Irina."

xxx

Next morning Seth offered to make breakfast because he was the first to get up while I sat on the backyard reading the letters. I forgot to give them back to Edward, but he told me before he didn't have a problem sharing with me whatever was written on them. It was quite interesting, Elizabeth, who was Edward's mom, was so afraid for her friend and Tanya always claimed to be fine. Apparently they were roommates and after finishing college, Tanya didn't have a place to go, so she stayed with Elizabeth. They were together when she met Edward's father and one Christmas, Edward asked both of them to come to Long Beach to meet his family. That's when Carlisle infatuation began. According to the letters, Tanya was unsure of starting something with him, with all of Edward and Elizabeth advice against him, and then it would be a long distance relationship. So Carlisle pursued her for a year. When Edward Sr and Elizabeth were ready to tie the knot, Tanya finally agreed to be his girlfriend, and eventually moved near Long Beach.

"If you could only see him now, Tanya. He's the most stuck up man I ever met. So serious I have a difficult time picturing like the life of the party, you know?"

The cold breeze passed me by again, I guess Tanya was listening. Most of our friends were still asleep, so I felt free to talk to her.

I got to a part where Elizabeth threw a party at her home in Chicago, to celebrate the fact that she was pregnant. Someone from her family was friends with the Platts and Esme came to the party. That's when she met Carlisle and she got so jealous just looking at him dotting on Tanya.

"That's one I can picture. Esme being a jealous spoiled child. She doesn't like me for Edward, you know? She always finds a way to make feel inadequate."

The content on the letters was kind of depressive. It seems that Carlisle was very happy with Tanya at the beginning, but soon enough he decided he needed more space and by then Tanya was deeply in love with him.

"Oh, Tanya!" I felt the breeze blowing around me, now I was sure she was here.

The last letter was one when Tanya agreed to come to live with Elizabeth, who was struggling with baby Edward and needed help; Tanya mentioned the distance would help to mend her broken heart.

"So you took care of baby Edward. I'm sure he was so cute." I giggled. "That's why you're so protective of him, right? He's really a good man, with a kind heart... and he's so hot," I blushed

"Who's hot?" Rose came and sat beside me. "With whom you were talking? You know that talking to yourself if one of the first signs of madness."

"How do you feel today?"

"Better. You know, I thought the moment she pulled my hair was the most terrifying, but what I saw yesterday, her hand floating... and apparently it's all with good intentions. Imagine when she gets angry!"

I looked around afraid of Tanya's reaction, but the breeze was gone. Maybe she only wants to talk to me.

xxx

"Edward, where do you think you're going?" Quill asked and stopped him from leaving the house. "Emmett only needs Jasper and me to help him. Go and take a look at that attic. I'm waiting for those embarrassing baby pictures, everybody has one."

"Oh, okay." Edward answered and walked back to the house. I hadn't seen him since last night's scare and today he seemed rather distracted.

"Edward, are you fine? You seem..."

"Uh?" I got to admit that the fact of how much his demeanor changed as soon as he realized it was me who was talking to him, how he smiled, it uplifted my mood though didn't erase my worries.

"Edward, are you ready to get inside the attic?"

"I was there earlier, with James before he left. It's just... ugh! I saw my little rocking horse, it belonged to my father. Then suddenly I was bombarded with all these memories. I remembered my father teaching me how to float in that pool!" Edward's eyes glazed over, still lost in his memories. "I remember Mom freaking out because uncle Carlisle taught me to climb trees. How could I forget everything?" He started to sob and I held him while he cried.

"You know guys, we can leave the attic for tomorrow. Why don't you finish with the plumbing and the gardens." I yelled to Michael. He answered by yelling to the others who were inside. Edward wasn't in any shape to deal with the attic. I just hoped Tanya would be patient.

xxx

The pool was filled with warm water, and with Edward sleeping after he collapsed in my arms, everybody decided to take it easy. The house was ready, except for the attic. The basement proved to be full of supplies, like a ton of canned soup and a hundred packages of soap. I didn't think Edward would want to keep those.

"Cowabunga!" Emmett yelled as he cannonballed into the pool. I didn't know what the hell he and Jasper did at the lighthouse, but since they got back they were giggling like teenagers and kept whispering between each other.

There was a table full of food and the alcohol was flowing. Jesus, tomorrow they'll be so hungover.

"Here, have a drink, Bella." Rose gave me a glass with some pink liquid.

"No, I don't want to get drunk. I want to be sober in case Edward needs me."

"Hmm, I think Irina gave him the same tea she gave Angela."

Well, that explain why he fell asleep so quickly.

"It doesn't matter. I want to stay sober today."

Rose nodded. "Then let me bring you a soda. You know, I never saw you in this bikini. Are you trying to give poor Edward a heart attack?"

She left giggling, only to be replaced by Alice. She was nervous that her father would be around.

"Thanks for the bathing suit." Oh, right. I gave her my usual bikini which could be adjusted by the strings and was left with this one which was more daring and made me feel exposed. But it was for a good cause, like Rose said, I hoped Edward would notice when he finally woke up.

"No problem Alice, did Cynthia have a problem with the one Jess gave her?" Cynthia was taller than Alice, so one of Jessica's bikinis would suit her better.

"Oh, yes. All of you are really kind. She's still ashamed by her... reaction to... you know. But she promised to apologize later." Alice turned to look at the pool. Cynthia was following Emmett's example and jumped to the pool, splashing all over Emmett. "She never had friends around here. Dad forbid us to make friends, and Cyn was... she always followed his orders."

"But you rebelled."

"There was a time when I was just like her. But I like to read and I came to realize he was wrong and I found I had options. Sure, I had to wait until I could get Cyn away from him, but it was worth it. Did you know that Jasper offered us jobs at his parents farm?"

I smiled. "He's really a nice guy, a bit dumb and immature, but he has a heart of gold."

xxx

The day turned into night, but because we were somehow inside the house, the party continued with the lights on. Jessica said it was better because we could avoid the mosquitoes. People were laughing and swimming, and I got worried about Edward. I went inside to check on him, but he was sleeping so peacefully that I felt it was wrong to wake him up. I went back to the pool and relaxed with my soda. Maybe it was because I was tired but I felt it tasted funny. If Emmett put something in my drink I would kick his ass. He was known to add something gross when you didn't notice.

Soon I felt cold and I stood up to get a sweater.

The way back was fuzzy and I wondered what was wrong. I was sure the boys painted the steps and set white stones marking the path.

"Let me help you. You look a bit pale." It was Jacob.

"Oh, no. I just want to get a sweater."

"I'll guide you."

The walls were too dark to be from inside the house and the air was colder.

"But this is outside."

"No, we're going to your room."

I felt the floor colder, but in my confused state I couldn't think where we were. Then I saw a wall and lights. Maybe Jacob was really guiding me back and I was nervous for nothing?

"Watch out with the steps."

I raised my hand and felt a handrail, too cold to be made of wood. Where were we?

"Jacob, this isn't the house."

"No, this is a better place. Keep up."

Now he was pushing me, and I had a hard time trying to find out where we were and keeping up with his pace.

Finally, we stopped.

"Come, I know you are cold." Jacob tried to put his arms around me, but I pushed him back.

"No. I want to get back to my room."

"No, you're coming right here into my waiting arms. Tell me, Bella, how does it feel to want something and know that it will be out of your reach... like your way back to the house."

He tried to get a hold of me, but I took two steps back, finding there wasn't ground under my left foot. "Uh"

I fell to the other side, my hand on the floor trying to feel where it ended. Where were we?

"When Carlisle offered me the chance to come here, I immediately agreed. You know, I've wanted you since the day I met you, but no, you had to choose Edward. I'm tired of people always choosing him over me. Imagine my surprise when you mentioned you haven't sealed the deal. He's stupid. So I got greedy. You owe me at least one time with me, then you'll be free to go with him and let him enjoy my sloppy seconds."

"No Jacob. No." I was desperate, my vision blurred a bit less but still it wasn't enough to risk the way back.

"And you dared to wear this tiny scrap of fabric, you knew it would get a reaction from all the males. Do you like to be the center of attention?"

He got my hand and pulled me to him.

"Tell me, Bella. Did you want my attention? Because now you have it." He licked my cheek and I wanted to throw up.

"Noo!" I screamed. It echoed in whatever this place was.

"Oh, you can scream. Nobody will hear you. I made sure to close the door and we are a bit far from the pool."

I kicked and pushed him, finally getting him to release me, but what was the point when I couldn't escape?

"Now, I hope you like it rough." He took one step closer when it happened. The cold breeze blew behind me and I noticed the silhouette of a woman coming to my side.

"Tanya! Help!"

Jacob laughed, probably thinking I was crazy. "Sure, sure. Tanya is right here helping you."

The silhouette got more dense and a furious Tanya appeared. She stood in front of me, and now Jacob was the one screaming.

"Noo! What are you?"

Tanya didn't waste time and pushed Jacob. I heard him falling and crashing on the floor.

I just thanked Tanya before everything went black.


	13. Chapter 13

**EPOV**

I woke up in the groggiest state I've ever been. Damn Irina and her tea! I'm sure she's stealing her mother's Xanax to dope us.

In my dazed mind, I recalled the events prior to my meltdown. James pulling me aside early in the morning, giving me his support to take a peek at the contents of the attic. He helped me with the lightbulbs, all broken over time. He watched how I walked to where a blue cradle with my name on it was covered with dust, how I gasped at the sight of my little horse... how I crumbled with a box full of my toys: My stuffed Batman which I remembered to carry wherever I went, the rug with city streets design where I played with my little cars... it was too much. I remembered everything. Mom's patience whenever Dad and I played hide and seek on the empty rooms and made a mess, an old lady who I assume was my grandmother giving me cookies before dinner, Mom hugging me when I cried because the big bad moose head scared me... How could I forget?

I was so glad the guys let me out from their plan, I was sure I wouldn't be helpful. I was so distracted. And between all my memories, the only face I could picture was Bella's. She offered me her arms, her comprehension, and understanding. So I cried. I never thought I still had to grieve the loss of my parents, but nothing could stop my tears. And my uncle was selling this house when it was full of memories... Bella was right. I had the right to know... and a plan was formed in my mind. What if I bought the house? I have my trust fund, so money wasn't an issue. And if Esme's friend still insists I could rent the house, but I wasn't ready to let this part of my past go.

It was dark and I could hear the guys having a party at the pool. Great, they deserved it. Now I had to plan the perfect way to reach the subject of this house with my uncle. If I got to him screaming and demanding, he would turn down my request without a doubt.

I heard voices outside. One sounded a lot like Bella's.

 _'But this is outside'_ She complained, but she sounded off...

 _'No, we're going to your room'_ That was Jacob. What the hell was doing Bella with him? I opened the window and sure enough, he dragging Bella to the lighthouse. She was stumbling from side to side, she wasn't right... I saw how he pushed the lighthouse door open and he led Bella inside. I had to get there!

I fumbled with my sneakers ties, and maybe I wasn't in the best shape to run down the stairs, but Bella needed me.

"Where are you going?" Irina and Rose asked; they were coming out from the kitchen with a bag of chips and other snacks.

"Something is wrong with Bella. Jacob was leading her to the lighthouse. She was walking funny!"

"You are walking funny."

"What the hell did you give me Irina? I feel dizzy."

"It's the herbal tea my mother uses. Completely harmless. Wait, he was leading her? What if she wanted to go with him? You didn't see her bikini."

Rose kicked Irina's shin. "She despises him! You say she was walking funny? Alice told me to be careful with Bella's drinks. Emmett was dropping chicken bouillon cubes on everybody's drinks. But I never watched Jacob, and Bella was going upstairs to watch you every now and then."

By the end of Rose's tirade, I was at the door, with both girls behind me. Rose was arguing with Irina about her opinion on Bella and I was surprised to hear Irina apologizing.

The door at the lighthouse was closed, but I had the keys... it didn't open! What the hell was going on?

"Noo!" Bella screamed.

"Bellaaa!" I kicked the door; Irina and Rose were yelling trying to gain Bella's attention.

We could hear Jacob's voice, but it was too low to discern what he was saying.

Bella screamed again, "Tanya, help!" And we stopped kicking the door. Was Tanya helping her? Why didn't she opened the door?

Then Jacob screamed, 'Nooo!' followed by the noise of something heavy crashing on the floor.

"Bellaaa! Bellaaa!" We were screaming and kicking the door.

Suddenly the door creaked and opened by itself. The inside of the lighthouse was barely lighted. A body was lying on the floor, but when I got closer and realized it was Jacob, so I bolted to the stairs.

"Bella! Bella!"

She was laying passed out at the top. I got closer and took her in my arms.

"Bella, baby. Wake up. What did this asshole do to you?"

Her breathing was shallow, but she was fine. I finally saw her bathing suit and damn if I didn't want to kick Jacob's ass if he survived. She was gorgeous beyond my dreams! Cullen, focus! I reprimanded my horny side.

Bella regained her consciousness and opened her eyes. "Oh, Edward! He tried to... he put something in my soda."

"Shh, shh. It's fine baby. I will take care of you."

"But, but Tanya. Then she came and she... she pushed him!"

"Shh, shh. Don't worry. Rose and Irina are watching him. Everything is going to be fine."

Bella nodded and closed her eyes. "I was so scared."

"Don't worry baby. I promise everything will be fine." I held her closer, and kissed the top of her head, otherwise I would go downstairs and kick Jacob's sorry ass.

Emmett came running and asked if we were fine. I nodded while he winked and pulled the camera he hid at one of the beams.

"I hope we have everything in tape. This asshole is going to rot in jail. Paranormal activity, thanks for your bright ideas!"

xxx

Turned out that Jacob was fine. Sure he broke both legs, but he will recover. The more difficult part was when I called my uncle. He ordered me to help Jacob!

 _"Look, Edward, he was doing me a favor. We can't have him going to jail. Who will take care of Billy if he's locked inside a prison cell?"_

 _"But he tried to rape Bella! Your future niece in law."_

 _Carlisle sighed. "I promise I'll deal with him, but you have to keep him away from jail. He has a job to finish... then, you can have him."_

His cryptic words didn't offer reassurance. What was his plan? In my bewildered state, I told him I wanted to buy the house. He went ballistic, claiming he closed the deal with Esme's friend.

 _"I don't mind. I'm sure I'm entitled to my father's part of the house, so I want it."_

He hung up after that.

xxx

Bella was fine, just scared; and so curious about what Emmet found in the tape.

"It was situated in a wrong place. I only saw your foot and your hands. But we have everything you said." He said, completely ashamed.

"Really?" Everybody else asked. As I always said, we were a close knitted group, you messed with one of us, you messed with the rest.

"But officer Daniels said it was enough."

While our group of friends were nodding, Lauren stood up. "You know Emmett. If that was your super-duper plan, you could had asked for help. You know I'm an expert. I can set two cameras feeding on real time to one laptop. You know, electronic engineer major and something more. " She was pointing to her chest.

"Err, I wanted to keep it secret to Jacob..." Emmett said.

Angela was ashamed because she knew we were also keeping it a secret from her. "You know, despite we are not really friends, I would never help that... that scum to hurt Bella. I'm just as scared and confused as you are. I want Jacob to rot in jail for what he did, just like I want Alice and Cynthia to be free."

Emmett nodded to Angela and went to Lauren. "So what do you need to set that camera taping whatever is going on at the lighthouse?"

xxx

I called my aunt, and she told me they were coming tomorrow. She offered to talk to my uncle, she thought it was my right to keep the property if I wanted it. But she was adamant to help Jacob because there was no one who would care for his father.

Lauren and Emmett were inside the lighthouse since the sun came up, setting wires and computers, ready to offer feedback from the lighthouse.

While everybody was busy, Bella was still in my arms. I never let her alone in her sleeping bag.

"You know they may need your help," She said.

"It doesn't matter. I have to be sure you're fine." I claimed. She blushed.

"And that's the reason why I love you."

"I love you too baby." I said and kissed the hell out of her. She was mine to protect. Damn my uncle and his undisclosed plans. My priority was to keep Bella, and my friends safe.

* * *

Hi!

Ok, I had planned to post the next chapter of one of my other stories; but I'm aware I left this one in a cliff, so I give you the next chapter. So, let me have it; give me your opinion.

See ya!


	14. Chapter 14

**EPOV**

I can say that this moment would be engrained in my mind forever, the day that Bella finally told me she loves me. But the circumstances... left much to be desired.

What was left of the night we tried to keep us busy, me by talking to Bella, while Lauren, Emmett, and Quill planned the whole camera setting. They were sure we could get a video from Tanya and prove ghosts exist. Irina and Rose gladly left Bella in my arms and offered to coordinate the cleaning because even if we wanted or not, my uncle was coming tomorrow. That was a confrontation I was willing to have. But we finally went to sleep.

Officer Daniels promised to come by later in the morning to give us a chance to sleep. His priority was to get Jacob to the hospital and then he offered to come and talk to us. So when I woke up and noticed it was nine in the morning, I decided to give Bella more time and go to the kitchen to start my day. It was going to be a busy one.

I lifted the edge of the sleeping bag and something fell with a thud. It was a tiny pink pad, a diary. Jesus! Tanya was really moving to get her message across. The pad only disclosed a few of the events after my parents funerals through like four months later, when I guess was the day Tanya died.

"Ok, I'll read it after I help with the breakfast."

I put the pad in my pocket and walked to the kitchen.

Cynthia, Emmett, and Rose were giggling at something completely ignoring my entrance.

"What are you looking?"

Cynthia jumped, but Rose reassure her it was fine.

"The live feed from the lighthouse. There's really a pelican inside; when Emmett told me first, I thought it was a mere assumption. You know, they're gregarious, not liking to live alone."

The pelican had his nest behind a white glass wall, that I supposed was part of the lights. If he could get in, there must be a hole which mean now we know why there were broken.

"The coffee is ready." Cynthia whispered and I whispered a thank you. I needed desperately a cup.

"When is Daniels supposed to come? I want to stay with Bella while she gives her statement." Rose pulled the chair next to where I was sitting.

"I don't know. Ten, eleven? He was adamant to let her rest before coming to talk to us. But he took Bella's soda, right?"

Emmett grinned. "Oh yeah. You should see the swiftness with what Seth gave it to him. Everybody wants Jacob to pay, and honestly, I can't understand why your uncle is trying to help him."

"Neither do I."

I sipped my coffee and opened the diary. I was curious. I almost skipped the first two pages, because she was describing her feelings on my parents burial, something that despite I was young, I still remembered. What I almost missed, was that after the burial, Carlisle got closer to her. Both drowning in pain, got closer, reigniting their relationship, only now, Tanya was established in Chicago and my uncle still lived in Seattle.

They made is somehow possible to visit one weekend on and off. She mentioned how changed he was, and he was wondering what would become of me. Shit! That, I don't remember. Here she says that my Grandmother stayed with me in Chicago while I recovered, fighting the doctors who thought I would never walk again! How could it be possible? I only had vague memories of white walls and my crutches.

"Edward! Edward! Look what I found." Bella yelled from upstairs. "Oh. What's wrong? Did something happened?" She wondered.

"No, it's just." I showed her the diary and she read what I already did.

"You can't remember, right?"

"Yeah. I was sure I came to Forks after my parents died. I can't remember my grandmother taking care of me, or that Aunt Esme wasn't in the picture yet. Maybe I blocked it?"

She tried to soothe me, what brought her here forgotten until it fell in front of me. "What's this?"

"It was on top your pillow."

"Just like the diary."

I took a look, they were cards, the kind that was delivered inside a bouquet of flowers. All from uncle Carlisle to Tanya. From the moment I was born 'til my parents funeral. Shit! He always tried to get her back. Then what happened? How did he end with aunt Esme?

"Edward, when did your uncle married Esme?"

"I'm not sure, but they're about to celebrate their seventeenth anniversary. I was sure it was before the accident, and now I'm not sure. They always celebrated it before that date, you know? But here my uncle is clearly in a relationship with Tanya."

Bella kept reading the diary and sighed. "He wasn't with her the whole time, and he travels a lot. Could it be possible he was cheating... well, both women? Esme hadn't lived in Forks that long. From what I heard, they moved after they got married, after her family shunned them and all. And Tanya was in Chicago, apparently helping your grandmother. Clearly, we don't know a thing about your uncle."

xxx

Officer Daniels came later. The tape from last night in hand.

"Well, before I take your statement, Bella, I want to talk to all of you."

We were all seated around him at the back of the house, right beside the gardens. Some in the benches, some in the grass.

"Bella here mentioned you heard noises the night before the incident, right? That's why you decided to set a camera inside the lighthouse."

We nodded.

"I'm afraid that was my partner, Johnson. He tried to get a look inside the house, to see if Alice and Cynthia were hiding. " We all gasped. "I only found about it yesterday. But what he told me was... disturbing. He claims a woman who was hiding inside the lighthouse scared him. Now, I know all about the rumors and the local legend about a ghost, but I'm usually a very skeptical man."

Everybody was whispering, Alice and Cynthia were scared and I was wondering why Johnson left.

"And I say usually because between Johnson reluctance to come over here or the way he dropped the search for his friend, and the tape you gave me yesterday, I'm ready to give the ghost story a chance. With that said, I can't write a report claiming a ghost pushed Mr. Black."

Bella paled, but I promised to help her.

"But you have proof that he drugged her." I said and Daniels nodded.

"And you have proof that he tried to hurt her." Rose was quick to add, Daniels nodded again.

"Then, what's the problem?" I asked.

"The problem is that when he regained consciousness, he screamed and blamed Miss Swan. He said that she went willingly and he has witnesses."

Everybody turned to look at Angela, who had the decency to blush, but she shook her head.

"On our way here, he told me this was our last chance to make Bella and Edward come to us. He told me if I helped him to get Bella, I would have a chance with Edward. But he never mentioned drugging Bella. He said she liked him and he just needed a little push, I thought he was going to make a few underhanded remarks. I would never agree to something so low." Angela ended with a sob.

"So Black doesn't have witnesses, right?" Daniels asked.

"No!" We all agreed.

"Well, then Miss Swan, could you give me your version of what happened yesterday?"

xxx

We were giving the last details to the house, mopping the floor, getting the trash out; it really looked good.

"Look, Edward, someone hid the moose head with a sheet." Rose pointed. I took a chair and climbed to take it out. Whether I liked it or not, it was part of the decor. A sheet of paper was hiding behind the base of the head. It was the same kind of paper that the envelope we found inside the lighthouse.

 _'Dear Tanya,_

 _I'm ecstatic after the wonderful news you told me. Sure, it was completely unexpected, but I can't say it's unwelcome. I'm sure there's a lot we need to discuss because our future is about to change. Why don't you come to my parents house at Long Beach? I have to settle a few things this Friday, but after that, I'm all yours._

 _Waiting anxiously until I see you again,_

 _Carlisle Cullen (your baby daddy)'_

Oh God! Now I knew why Tanya was so mad.

* * *

Hi! So the cat is out of the bag, and Carlisle is about to arrive. What do you think will happen?

This story is almost over, two or three chapters and the epilogue. Next chapter will be posted on Saturday.

See ya!


	15. Chapter 15

**EPOV**

Esme arrived first to the house. She told us Carlisle went to the police station to see what he could do for Jacob. Un-be-liev-a-ble!

"I know you're angry Edward, and I swear I'm angry too," Esme said trying to plead my uncle's case. "I tried talking to him the whole way over here, but he's determined to get Jacob out of jail, well after he finally leaves the hospital. He doesn't want to tell me why he's helping him, but I'm sure it's more than Billy. Oh, Bella!"

Esme saw Bella standing behind me and ran to hug her, much to Bella's shock. She says Esme doesn't like her.

"He didn't really hurt you, right? You're fine?"

Bella just nodded, still unable to talk.

"Now, Edward. Why don't you give the tour to the house? I see you did great with the outside, that garden had never been so well cared." She took my arm and pulled me away.

"Oh, this peach shade you chose it's perfect! It cheers the whole lobby."

"Aunt Esme, do you think I'm wrong by asking the right to buy the house?" I waited until we were out of sight to make my question. I was sure the tour was meant to talk with me without prying ears though everybody was aware of the situation.

"Oh, no. I also told Carlisle he was wrong on that. It's yours, in a way. Your grandmother left it to both of you, with hopes that one day you would re-open the bed and breakfast. She knew Carlisle hated this place, but with you... it was different. I don't know why he's so fixated with selling this to anyone who seems interested. Did you know that my friend Shelly plans to seal the door of the lighthouse so it will be just a decorative object? I think it's dangerous, it would be better to leave it alone or demolish it. God knows kids always find a way to get into this kind of places. Or what if a wild animal falls inside and we're not able to get inside?"

"Well, there's a pelican nesting inside. I don't know what to do if there are more animals living in there." And one pissed off ghost, I said in my mind. I was also nervous about what Tanya would do now that Esme was here and Carlisle was about to arrive.

"So, when I finally talk to my uncle, will I have your support?"

"Of course you have it. I know how important it's to keep those memories about your family. Now, consider he's so mad right now he probably won't hear reason. I say just wait 'til he calms down and then tell him you want the house. Just please, don't move here. It's far and we don't like to come here like I said, he says it has bad memories for him."

My aunt kept prattling while I was lost in my thoughts. Was Tanya's death so awful that my uncle didn't want to remember it? For me, it seems like he really cared about her, and that news about a baby left me thinking she had a tragic ending which lead my uncle to Esme's arms.

"Did you know that the Swans are on their way over here? Rose called them in the morning, and they promised to come as soon as they found someone who could take care of Claire. I would have asked Renee to come with us, but your uncle was... impossible. I never saw him like this."

Shit! Way to let Charlie know you're Bella's boyfriend. Letting some scumbag asshole try to hurt her, scare her in that way.

"And, no they're not angry at you. Renee is glad Bella is safe but obviously she wants to see it with her own eyes. As a matter of fact, Carlisle speeded up because he wanted to get here before Charlie Swan. Charlie won't get Jacob get away with this."

By now we were back to the lobby where my friends were waiting for us. While we knew they were coming, we didn't exactly plan what to say or how to reach the subject of Tanya's ghost. I wasn't ready to bring it to aunt Esme. Carlisle was the one I wanted to talk about it.

"Irina, sweetie! Your mother was so worried when you left. She said they were waiting for you to go that cabin. Anyway, I'm so glad to see you're fine and I hope finally convince you to drop that nonsense of moving to San Francisco."

Irina rolled her eyes but went to hug Esme. She was used to her intruding, Esme was her mother's best friend after all.

Soon, we sat outside on the benches. Jasper called for pizzas and we were eating while my aunt was asking everybody what were their plans after college. While it was a safe subject, everybody was tense and waiting for the shit to hit the fan.

"We are moving with Tyler's uncle to Atlanta. I found a job at his company. Tyler is still trying to find something."

"Oh wow Lauren! Your parents must be so proud."

Aunt Esme's praises didn't let us hear a door closing. It was my uncle. And he really was pissed off.

"Good afternoon guys. Edward, come over here, I want to have a few words with you."

xxx

 **BPOV**

I squeezed Edward's hand before he left with Carlisle. Even Esme had those worried eyes. She tried to keep us engaged in this conversation, but honestly, nobody was paying attention. We knew when Carlisle started to talk with Edward because Carlisle raised his voice, so we got inside the house, just staying by the lobby.

"I only asked you one thing. One thing. And look what mess you made! That boy is in the hospital, all because one stupid girl teased him and then didn't know how to say no."

"He drugged her! And that stupid girl is my girlfriend."

"Imagine it! So what, she strung you both along until she found the one who was more convenient?"

I gasped. I was sure Edward would fight for my honor, but I was wondering if he got that Carlisle was picking a fight to avoid any comment on the selling of the house. Esme also was concerned, but she patted my hand softly.

"He doesn't really mean it. He likes you, but he's more worried about that boy."

Surely Esme comments weren't comforting at all.

"I'm sure you know Bella isn't like that. I still can't figure out why you're so adamant to defend him, but you have to know that we witnessed everything and Bella was just defending herself from Jacob's attack. Now, what I really want to know is why did you keep my past in this house from me? Did you really expected I would fix it and don't remember a thing?"

The deafening silence that followed Edward's question startled me.

"I remember playing on the woods, I remember my mother rocking me in the benches, my father teaching how to float at the pool. My grandmother cookies! Why did you leave me thinking none of this happened? My poor grandmother..."

"Ha. Do you really want to know about your grandmother? Well, she died right in front of you. She had a brain aneurysm. She was playing with you and suddenly she fell. You thought you broke her and were crying day after day. Do you really want those images?"

"And what about Tanya? She was the one who found us when my grandmother died, right? Why do you keep Tanya's existence hidden?"

Now we heard Carlisle's growl, but what shocked me was Esme's reaction. She was glaring with such a hate.

"Tell me, uncle, what happened to Tanya? Why did we never hear from her again?"

Uh, oh. I was hoping he wouldn't mention the ghost because I was sure Carlisle would have him committed.

"The bitch left as soon as she knew Carlisle married me," Esme whispered.

"Who's Tanya? I don't know what you're talking about." Carlisle answered to Edward.

"I read the letters. I read your cards, the pictures. I remember her. You really thought you could hide her existence?"

While a part of me was mesmerized by the discussion, and by Esme's hatred toward Tanya, I began to wonder when Tanya would make her presence known. As violently as she usually reacted, I was waiting for a hell out more from Carlisle's dismissal of her existence. This time, there wasn't a cold breeze and I was wondering what was the whole point in showing us the letters and the diary, when now that she had the opportunity to speak her message she disappeared.

Carlisle was pacing, we could hear it, but then he suddenly stopped.

"I'm done." He said and the sound of a door being slammed made us jump.

"Wait! I have so much more to tell you!" Edward screamed, but Carlisle had left the room.

We saw how Carlisle, pale as a ghost, walked through the lobby and then got out through the front door, slamming it.

I stood up and went to Edward who was seething in anger while Esme got up and exclaimed. "He left his jacket." She walked to the lobby where she stashed hers and Carlisle's coats and ran to him, slamming the door again.

"Give them a few minutes, baby," I said to him, tried my most damn to reassure him.

He nodded, but the funniest part, we heard the door locking. There was no one close to the door to have done it.

I went to the window and I heard the faintest voice calling Carlisle. It wasn't Esme.

"Do you hear it?" I asked.

'Carlisle... Carliiisleee'

"Shit!"

Edward ran to the front door, which didn't open. Emmett ran to the back, but it sure was locked too.

"Where are they going?" Irina asked.

"The lighthouse..." Jasper said.

"Quick! The camera's feed! Lauren, your laptop!"

It was a sea of confused calls, people pushing people to get closer to the windows or closer to the laptop.

"Look.."

The door of the lighthouse, the one I was sure I closed with a padlock early in the morning was open.


	16. Chapter 16

**EPOV**

"Bella, didn't you lock that door?" I asked because I was sure we agreed to keep the lighthouse locked before our talk to officer Daniels.

"I did it, I swear!" My poor girl was so spent and now this happened.

We saw through the window how Carlisle walked to the lighthouse not once giving a look behind. Poor Esme was stumbling all the way trying to reach him.

"Look, the lights inside the lighthouse are on!" Someone said, but I was so focused on the doors of the lighthouse closing by their own after aunt Esme got inside that I didn't know who did it.

"Oh, crap." Someone else said.

Lauren pointed to the screen of her laptop. We could get glimpses of Carlisle climbing the stairs with Esme following behind because the camera was set up at the top.

Finally, Carlisle reached the top and we got the complete image.

He stepped into the tiny wooden bridge that joined the stairs to the gigantic glass structure that held the light bulb. He carefully tried to cross to the other side, but the wood squeaked so he gave three steps back.

"Carlisle it's been so long." Tanya's voice was clear.

Carlisle turned around scared.

"Come out whoever you are! I know you're hiding in here."

Esme finally reached the top, but her reaction to Tanya's voice was different.

"You, pathetic bitch. Leave him alone. I won! He married me."

Carlisle turned to Esme.

"Shh, Esme. This isn't Tanya."

"Are you sure?" Tanya's voice asked.

Carlisle stood on his tiptoes, trying to see what was behind the glass covering the light bulb.

"I'm sure you aren't Tanya. Who are you and what do you want?"

"Carlisleee..."

"Stop it!" Esme cried.

"What Esme? Can't you handle a little blast from the past?" Tanya sneered.

"Please! You're acting so desperate like you always did. Oh, poor Tanya over here and poor Tanya over there. That's why we didn't visit this house anymore. You convinced his mother you were the right one for him. Guess what? I won."

"Esme!" Carlisle reprimanded her, but she was on a tirade.

"But I did! Despite all her efforts, you married me, not her! No matter what everybody thought, your mother's desperate pleas. I won."

The maniacal laugh that followed that statement gave us chills.

"But Esme..." Carlisle turned

"Imagine your mother's surprise when I told her we were married. She screamed and cried." Esme was kind of lost in her memories. "She was playing with little Edward one day when he asked to talk to his uncle Carlisle. I was the one who answered. Now, if she only would had left a message, but no! She had to make me know how she thought I was distracting you, keeping you from your goals. She dared to mention Tanya like I didn't know you were pinning over her. I had to tell her the truth, otherwise she would still be expecting you to come back to them. She got so angry, but this time I didn't keep it quiet. I gave her as much as she did to me. We raised our voices until she stopped. It was eerily quiet and then little Edward started to cry and plead to his grandma to wake up. That's when I knew something happened to her and I hung up. Of course, it had to be Tanya the one who found them, the one who comforted little Edward."

"But, but Esme... you..."

"Oh, the old woman was sick. It wasn't my fault. I just happened to be talking to her when her brain shut up."

Carlisle's face changed to one of disgust. "How could you?"

"Oh, didn't you think I may had noticed that you went to Chicago almost every weekend? I knew you weren't so fond of little Edward. So, I decided to make it clear for them on which side your love and loyalty lay."

"But I really had to leave. We have properties all around the country!"

"Sure, but you traveled to Chicago because she was waiting for you! I noticed when you got back with her. You were pulling away from me, and I would never let that wench win. Carlisle, you were mine from the first time I saw you, and you know it."

"Enough!" Tanya's enraged voice made the walls of the lighthouse tremble, we saw it.

Esme dropped the jacket she was carrying and walked around. "I don't care where you are or what you're planning. He's mine and nothing will change it."

We saw how the breeze passed around Esme and she shivered. Little whirls of dust dancing around her.

But her real objective was pacing in front of Esme.

"Shit Esme. I told this isn't Tanya, is someone who wants us to fight. Someone who wants to break us. He or she is already making Edward turning his back on us."

"Are you sure Carlisle?" Tanya's voice asked softly.

"Sure. I know Tanya disappeared. I'm completely sure about it."

Suddenly, Tanya materialized at the edge of the stairs. "Are you sure Carlisle?" Her long hair was flowing, she looked beautiful in her pale blue dress which showed her little baby bump and her mysterious smile that in other circumstances would enhance the whole pregnancy glow.

Esme's scream rattled even the windows inside the house. Meanwhile, the whole lobby was rooting for Tanya and to give her a chance to get revenge. We got used to her presence around here, it didn't shock us by now.

"No, no. It can't be possible. I got rid of you." Carlisle gave two steps back, he was trapped by the wall. "I, I had to. I just married Esme and we kept it secret so her parents wouldn't cut us off. If they find out you and I were going to have a baby..."

Esme screamed "What? No... you promised me..."

"I loved her Esme!"

"No, nooo!" Esme was hysterical. "I won! How could you kill her? You just had to say it was over!"

"I tried... but," Carlisle got quiet, completely ashamed.

"Why don't you tell her how you told me you were going to dump her?"

"No!" Esme yelled. "Impossible!"

"How you kissed me and while I was distracted you carefully tied the rope around my neck and then... bam! You pushed me."

"No, he wouldn't... he never... you're lying Tanya!" Esme was about to loose her mind, pulling her hair while she glared at Tanya. And Tanya, well, she just smiled.

We saw Tanya walking slowly to her tormentors. Step by step, getting closer. Esme just watched as Tanya passed through her, falling to her knees and crying.

Tanya's pace was steady, her arms lifted something, a rope in her hands.

"No, no Tanya. You... you know I love you, right? You were always the first in my heart." Carlisle tried to negotiate with her, but to no avail.

"No. You made a decision." Tanya said, each step getting her closer to a terrified Carlisle.

"No, please Tan, no. We can work it out..."

"Sure we can," Tanya said as she extended her arms to Carlisle, letting the rope hang from her wrist.

The live feed from the cameras died.

"Noo!" We all screamed.

"Look, the lights of the police cruiser. Officer Daniels is here!" Emmett yelled.

We ran to the windows always screaming calling for officer Daniels.

He got down of his car and ran to us, followed by a very shocked Renee Swan. We made it clear the door was locked and asked him to help us.

He asked us to step back and he pulled out his gun and shot the lock. The lock vanished with a bang and he pushed the door open.

"Bella! Sweetie!" Renee ran to hug her daughter who was firmly wrapped in my arms. I didn't want to let her go, but Renee never thought it twice and hugged us both.

The others ran outside and tried to explain to him what we saw, but suddenly we got quiet after Esme wailed.

"Noooo!"

At the top of the lighthouse, the main light turned on. It reflected two shadows hanging from the ceiling. One was a skeleton, the other one was Carlisle.

* * *

Hi!

I want to apologize because I just dropped the last chapter without a cliff warning and my plans to post the next one today :( In my defense it was my mother's birthday and I was late to our movies/lunch date.

Now, What do you think? Do you think Tanya finally got justice? What do you think about Esme and Carlisle? Just one more chapter and the epilogue to close this story.

I want to thank miss Lost In Fanfiction for rec'ing me. A big, big thank you.

Now, if you follow my other stories, I plan to focus in the other two I have still going around, maybe finishing 'A mother's advice' before the year's end because it's closer to the end; and in January I'll post two new ones. I'll post a poll to see which one goes first.

See ya!


	17. Chapter 17

**EPOV**

The door squeaked while it opened at a snail's pace. Everybody was so shaken by what we saw at the top that nobody dared to push it open quickly.

Once it was open, I took a step to get a peek inside, but officer Daniels stopped me. He took his gun out though we knew it would be useless given the circumstances.

He was the first one to step inside, we saw how he took the stairs and whispered that we could get in. The lights were still on, but what unnerved me the most was the silents sobs coming from the top. I was sure it was aunt Esme.

Slowly, we reached the top, and what we found broke my heart. Esme was laying on the floor in fetal position, hugging my uncle's jacket. She was crying softly but when she realized we were near, she began to mutter 'he's mine, he's mine' while hugging desperately the jacket. I just had to comfort her, despite what she did in the past, she just lost everything.

Officer Daniels asked Emmet to help him to get across the bridge, to where the glass supposed to cover the light bulb was located. Now that with the light on, I noticed that the glass was shattered in one side, where I was sure uncle Carlisle broke to hid Tanya's body inside. No wonder why he wanted to keep this place closed, someone would have found her.

With a great effort on both men, they cut both ropes and managed to recover the bodies. I took aunt Esme downstairs, not wanting her to look at my uncle's body. He had the most haunted look I'd ever saw. But the worst part, he was holding the skeleton's hand, his fingers intertwined with Tanya's. Esme would shatter if she saw that.

xxx

 **One week later...**

It was finally over. Carlisle's funeral gathered half town, but we didn't have a proper burial given that the authorities in Long beach still had the body. We stated his death was an accident, claiming he fell from the top of the lighthouse because what other reason will anyone believe?

Aunt Esme went catatonic when we took her to the hospital. The prognosis didn't look good, she's supposed to remain committed until we have the final diagnose. We just had to wait.

Officer Daniels called me before the funeral, they found Aaron Brandon's body, it washed in the shore two days later. The coroner stated he died of a heart attack, but we're still wondering how he managed to get into the water or who forced him to get in. Alice and Cynthia had to stay in Long Beach, but Jasper's family assured them they would have jobs waiting for them when their father's businesses were finished.

Sure, Bella was right by my side through everything, just like I was with her when she confronted one scared Jacob Black. Charlie Swan scared him enough to make him retract of his first statement, but when Bella confronted him and dared him to say she taunted him, somehow he broke. He admitted everything, including the reason why he helped my uncle, and now he'll face four years in jail.

Apparently Carlisle was worried I would find out I owned a part of the lighthouse when the moment to get my trust fund came, and he knew I would search the whole property for memories of my parents. He set us up to fix the house, but he sent Jacob to abide his plan. He was supposed to find any trace of Tanya, would it be pictures, letters, anything and had to get rid of them. My uncle offered him a huge amount of money if he kept us away from the attic, but Jacob was so desperate to get Bella that he missed the few opportunities he had. Well, and Tanya made most of the work to let us know about her. She really handed everything to us. Including the last and most overwhelming piece. Her will. She left me everything she owned. At that time she considered wasn't much, just a few pictures and books; but unbeknownst to her, her only known relative, an old aunt died and left everything to Tanya a month earlier than her fateful date with Carlisle on Long Beach. Which mean everything now belongs to me.

Now, I found myself a very rich man, but still unsure about the future. Jesus! Even I don't know how to handle all of aunt Esme's properties, which my uncle was neglecting. Bella was completely right about him.

Those were the facts. It was finally over. But I felt numb.

My professors at college were nice enough to allow me this week to settle everything, and I would be back on Monday.

And still I felt like I should be sad, or angry.

"Oh, Edward! Do you want to talk about it?" Bella asked, coming to sit by my side on the couch. The house that used to feel like home, now it felt foreign to me. So Bella and her family took me to their house while I got back to college.

Bella messed with my hair and sighed.

"You know, whatever you're feeling is fine. Even if it's nothing."

"I know. It's just... sad. In the amount of time of seven days, my whole view of what I considered my family was shattered. I hardly remember my grandmother and by now I found, she was my biggest supporter after the accident. I would be bound to a wheelchair if it wasn't for her, and I didn't remember a single thing about her until last week!"

She hugged and tried to sooth me, but I guess it was time to let it all out. I bottled all my emotions in order to deal with aunt Esme's illness and Carlisle's funeral. I couldn't call him uncle with the same amount of affection than before.

"Then this mysterious woman, who was there for my mother and for me since the beginning, she wasn't a blip on my radar until last week. What if she didn't want to make her presence known? What if Carlisle didn't send us to fix the house?"

"I think you would find out sooner or later Edward. You know? Your lawyer called, the one who your grandmother hired, not the jerk Carlisle worked with. He told me Carlisle could never have sold the property without your approval, and he wanted to set a date to go through your grandmother's and Tanya's wills. It's so sad that seventeen years later she was officially declared dead. Everybody thought she ran after Carlisle married Esme, all brokenhearted and what not. He was really close to getting away with everything. I'm glad his plan backfired though it cost him his life."

"Yeah, and that's what worries me the most. Why don't I feel sad for him? Despite everything, he was a good father figure for me while growing up. He was present at every important moment in my life, he really acted like a father. My only complaint would be how he set me to follow his steps, and honestly, that's because I allowed it. Now, I just can't feel sad, because he took a great part of my past away."

"Hmm, while I'm sure with time you'll overcome these feelings, why don't we start one day at the time. Look how many people cares for you? Mrs. Hamilton sent a tray of lasagna. I'm sure she thinks we're starving you."

I smiled at that. Mrs. Hamilton offered her help for the funeral, but, in reality, she spent the whole time apologizing to her daughter because she was so ashamed of pushing Jacob to Irina after seeing he turned out a sexual deviant. Her actual words, not mine. Now, when I mentioned I was staying with the Swans, she finally accepted that Irina and I would never happen. She's the only Fork's resident that went to visit my aunt. Really sad if you think about it.

"And Dad's offer to help you with the rest of your uncle's paperwork is still standing. Even when he claims he doesn't believe anything related to Tanya was true." Bella giggled. "But he still doesn't admit how he jumped when he saw that moose head. Please, don't mention it when you talk to him. Rose teased him so much."

I smiled. Bella always knew how to make me feel better.

"Why don't you come with me to the kitchen? Mom made chocolate chip cookies and I'm sure I could make a cup of tea or maybe a hot chocolate?"

She was looking at me with those soulful eyes. I couldn't resist and I kissed her.

"Did I tell you today that I love you?" I whispered and she smiled.

"Not enough times."

The best part of these horrid days was that we finally got together, and by the looks of it, we will remain like this for a long time. With Bella by my side, I was sure I will overcome anything that life threw at me. Together.

* * *

Hi!

So does this chapter answer all your questions?

Someone mentioned that no matter what, Tanya went out with Carlisle while he wasn't single. In her defense, nobody knew about Esme. They kept their relationship secret. But Tanya coming back to him when she knew that faithfulness wasn't one of his traits, wasn't such a bright idea.

Next will be the epilogue.

See ya!


	18. Epilogue

**EPOV**

 **Five years later...**

The morning lighted the white walls of the lighthouse making it shine like new. A stream of white flowers hanging from one of the new windows changed it usual somber state to something warmer. Irina went crazy planning and decorating this shit. She made an art of creating spaces, which she used in her work at that Hollywood studio.

Of course, being the pigheaded woman she was, she moved to San Francisco, where she met her boyfriend, almost husband if one day they decide to tie the knot, Laurent. They worked designing and building sets for movies and TV productions. They are fairly successful, that kind of settled her mother into accepting her choices.

You may be wondering what's the occasion, right? It's Rosalie and Emmett's wedding. Yep, he won Rose's heart. And why are we celebrating at the lighthouse? Well, that's a long story.

After our graduation, Rosalie, Bella, Emmet, Jasper and I went back to Forks. Bella was absolutely right when she talked about experience, but instead of working at the community center, I asked her to come and help me. And boy if we made a great team. She had the greatest analysis skills I ever saw, and she could set a flawless plan like nobody else. Me? She said I'm a good leader, that I managed to put her plans into fruition; so we kind of made a work team with our friends from the rez and Rose, the ones who were available at the time. Bella made me get to visit every property I owned and decide which one needed repair, which one needed to be sold, and which one we should keep and rent. It took us a bit of time, and a lot of help from Eleazar, my grandmother's lawyer, but we finally got control over every property and we manage to get a profit. The guys were great as a support team to fix any house or building, and it was an extra help for them while they continued with their lives. Rose had a great talent to deal and negotiate, so also works with us. With time, and the supervision of one of Esme's sisters who was worried of the possible outcome of our business venture, we created a little company and I was glad we worked like a well-oiled machine.

Oh, my poor aunt Esme. She's still committed, probably will always be. She regressed to the time when she just married Carlisle and she confuses me with my father every time I visit her. One time Bella tried to come with me, but Esme got mad, stating she was a homewrecker and to leave me alone. Bella never went back after that. Esme particularly hates a red headed nurse that she confuses with Tanya, so no pretty nurses or doctors for her. But on the bright side, she made peace with her sisters and she's always inviting them to Forks to her new house.

"Edward! Stop wasting my time and go get those pruning shears. The stems on the canopy flowers are too long and make everything fall!" Irina yelled from the backyard.

"I'm on it. Jesus, Irina. Rose is supposed to be the only mad woman around here."

She came running from behind and slapped my head. "Don't mess with my creating juju. I'm an artist and I'm working to make my vision come to live. So shoo, go and bring me my gardening tools. Or I'll tell Bella." She gave me a knowing glare. She knew that after dealing with angry ghosts, the fury of my pregnant wife is the only thing that scares me these days.

Right, my beautiful pregnant wife. The one who's waiting for the sandwich of pickles and Nutella that I'm holding in my hands. Well, sandwich first, shears later.

Where were we? Right, the hardest decision I took was to really repair the lighthouse property and do something with it. It was still full of memories, but thank God, ridden of ghosts. Bella suggested we made it a Bed and Breakfast again, but somehow I didn't like the idea because I wouldn't be able to keep an eye on it and there was something wrong with letting strangers inside the house, so we finally decided to move here.

The first big event we hosted here was our own wedding, three years ago.

Just like today, Irina went crazy decorating and certainly was a great help during the planning. With aunt Esme committed, Mrs. Hamilton kind of adopted me; she went crazy with Mrs. Swan finding the perfect dress, the perfect caterer; anyway, with the support of our family and friends, our wedding was just what Bella dreamed of and for me that was perfect.

So we moved here but still left Rose in charge of certain aspects of our company which still was based in Forks. The workload was so heavy for only Rose, in the beginning, that we thought of hiring an assistant for her. Enter one Emmett McCarty who at the moment was still unemployed. He was so kind to help her while we settled at the lighthouse, building a separate set of rooms to work as our office.

"Here love, your yummy sandwich just the way you like it," I said as I entered the back room that housed the pool. She also was hiding from Irina's madness.

"It took you so long. I'm almost finished with the plans for our Norfolk property. You may need to stay there for a while." She answered while taking a bite from the sandwich. It didn't hide her pout.

I kissed her briefly. "I'm not going anywhere, I'm here 'til our little Ethan comes home." Right, we're having a boy.

"What are you thinking? You have that 'I'm in deep thought' brow."

"Just remembering how we got here."

Bella laughed. "You mean, the wedding?"

Sure Emmett was a great help, but when we got back to Forks for the rest of our things, we may have found them in a very compromising position... right on the top of the desk where Bella and I consummated our love long time ago. That was our first gift for them, the desk. The funny part is that they tried to pass it as a one-time thing. Sure! Like we didn't notice when they held hands under the table or those stolen kisses when they thought nobody was watching.

"Yes."

"Oh, I remember how we thought Jasper would be so disappointed, but he and Alice really surprised us." Bella giggled. Alice and Jasper together really took us by surprise, but if we were honest, we grew apart after graduation. He had to get in charge of his parents' farm and didn't have a lot of time to visit friends. When we went to the farm to invite him to our wedding, Alice was already pregnant and blissfully happy. Even Cynthia changed a lot, with the help of Jasper and Alice, she went to college and right now, she's about to become the newest veterinary in the town of Forks.

"Baby, I have to take something to Irina, are you still going to hide here?" I asked, ready to help her to get inside the house if that was what she wanted.

"No, the seamstress is coming soon and she has to make some adjustments to my dress. I told Rose I needed a flowy dress, but no! it had to be this tight thing not created for pregnant women."

I helped her to stand and guided her through the back into the house. On our way we heard how Rose yelled something to her mother, they were fighting again.

"You know, those two are too nervous. Rose's father got out of jail last month." Bella whispered to me.

"No! I thought he got fifteen without parole. What's wrong with the justice system? They let people out so soon." I was thinking about Jacob Black. When he went to jail, his father moved to Hawaii with his older daughter. But Jacob never learned. In jail, he molested the sister of another prisoner who really got mad. when Jacob came out, feeling free, the friends of said prisoner got to him. Last I heard he's all scarred and still carrying a limp just like the one I used to have, I wonder if he realizes it's karma for making fun of me all those years ago. Anyway, he left town and now he drives a truck for a living.

"The fifteen part is right, however, he's out now; and he plead to Rose to let him witness the wedding."

"Please, tell me she said no." His presence would make everything messy.

"Of course, she said no, but then he blamed her mother and they fought and now it looks like Jerry Springer's show again. Rose only asked him to let her have this day peacefully and then she promised to visit him. But she was adamant to keep him away. She even talked to Chief Daniels about it. He promised to patrol the town before the wedding."

After the gruesome events five years ago, Detective Johnson, the cop who was friends with Mr. Brandon, decided to retire arguing his nerves weren't the same. That led the way for officer Daniels to climb positions until last year he was appointed the new chief of Long Beach police. And a close friend of ours.

"Do you think we should bring someone for security?" I asked, wondering if we could hire someone with such a rush.

"Nah. James promised to keep an eye too. He said Daisy is getting fussy again, so he'll be walking around the entrance trying to pacify her. I think she's teething and Vicky will be busy with Johana being the flower girl." Bella giggled. "You know, he having two daughters is karma. He was a dog before Vicky and he made you a dog too."

I quickly kissed her temple. She always teased me with those five or six months of my life. "Only for a while, love. You know I only have eyes for you."

"And that's why you should be thankful we're having a boy." She kissed me softly before opening the door to the house, where her mother stole her from me.

"Sorry, but the seamstress is already here. Now, I heard Irina screamed for a couple of shears. Could they be these ones?" Renee put just the right shears Irina asked and pushed me back outside. What's wrong with women and weddings?

xxx

"And now I pronounce you husband and wife. You may kiss the bride."

Reverend Webber officiated the wedding and he beamed at Rose and Emmett finally tying the knot, a thing his daughter wasn't ready to do. After the whole mess she changed a lot, she moved to New york stating she needed a change of scenery and she's working at a woman's shelter. As far as I knew she's truly happy helping to others and in no hurry to settle down. The rest of the attendees clapped and there were a few catcalls because Emmett gave Rose one of those toe-curling kisses.

I helped my wife waddle to our table.

"You know, I think we can skip the pictures and go to the bathroom before the toasts," Bella suggested. Lately, she's unable to drink a glass of water and keep it for more than an hour.

"Sure baby."

On our way back into the house, I noticed how our group of friends is able to still get together for especial occasions. Lauren and Tyler were seated with Michael and his wife, Seth, and Paul with their girlfriends, smiling at the jokes Jessica's boyfriend kept telling them. Lauren and Tyler keep the record of the longest courtship without the intention of marriage or kids. Lauren is a manager now and she told me they want to wait for a few more years before kids, they been together so long that marriage is just a piece of paper for them. Now Michael has a very different story. After graduation, he went backpacking to Europe. In Croatia, he met an English young woman and it was love at first sight. They married eight months later. Seth changes girlfriends as he changes his underoos, it got worst when he expanded his electricians business to Port Angeles. Paul seems to be serious with Kim but who knows what the future may bring for them? Last I heard, they plan to move to Seattle. But I think the most curious story is Jessica's. She went to live with Irina at first because she wanted to pursue an acting career. What we didn't know was that Jessica is a comedian. No, a real comedian. She performed in stand-up shows through college and she continued while she lived in San Francisco. One day Irina sent me a video. Jess was a hit. A complete success. She got a small part on a TV sitcom, but her charming personality and her wit got her character become part of the main cast. She's now dating the man who plays the main character in another sitcom. A match made in TV heaven.

"Ok, come back for me in two minutes. We need to hurry before my mother or Lucy Hamilton decide to look out for us. If someone else asks me to change my speech I swear I'll hang her by the boobs!" Bella went inside the house still blabbering, which she does when she really wants to go. I guess it entertains her bladder.

"Psst, psst." Someone called me.

I walked back and looked between the rose bushes. It was James, holding a sleeping Daisy in his arms.

"I don't want to wake her. She dropped three of her chewing toys and I'm out of spares."

I got closer and tousled Daisy's hair.

"You can get in the house and wash them. Or you can use the fridge because I think babies like those things frozen."

James tried to hide his laugh. "Oh, you are so naïve. I can't wait to see you suffer from the first diarrhea diaper."

"Shut up! It's a process. I'm reading a lot of books and Bella is taking me to those classes..."

"Right. That makes you an expert. Anyway, what I was trying to tell you is that I noticed movement behind the lighthouse. Is Daniels patrolling or is he already sitting at the party?"

"I don't know. Bella had to... go back inside the house, but I can go and check."

"Let's go. Walking lulls Daisy into a deeper sleep."

With the noises coming from the party, our soft steps went unnoticed. Certainly I noticed movement in one of the trees by the lighthouse.

"Hey! This is a private party. You have to leave or I'll call the police." I screamed to anyone who was hiding around here.

The bushes near the door of the lighthouse moved and an older woman with a teenage boy came out.

"I'm just looking for my husband. I promise I don't want to intrude, just take him back home." She whispered, noticing Daisy was asleep.

"Who's your husband? Is he a guest at the wedding?" I asked, but I had the faint idea this was the 'other woman' from Rose's parents divorce.

She came closer and tried to smile.

"He's her father. I know she hates me but when I heard she begged him to walked her down the aisle."

Jesus! After all these years he's still lying to her.

"Don't take it wrong, but I think your husband has a little problem with telling the truth. My father in law walked her down the aisle, he always cared more for Rose than your husband. As a matter of fact, she asked him to stay away. I don't know if he's here because she prohibited him the entrance."

She was about to argüe when my wife waddled her way to us.

"You have the nerve to come here today of all days!" Man, an angry Bella always makes a sexy Bella.

"I just want to take him home. We kept our word and never bothered her again." The woman answered.

That's when we heard noises inside the lighthouse.

"Oh, not again!" Bella claimed.

I walked fast to the door, but it opened and a man came out running.

"Nooo!"

Bella sighed and was about to get in when I stopped her. I knew she wasn't afraid to deal with Tanya, but if we were honest, we never saw a trace of her in the last five years. Maybe something else was inside.

The inside was lighted because of the new windows we opened. It didn't house a camera these days because it wasn't necessary. The pelican still nested at the top and from time to time we watched his or hers family grow. At first sight, the lighthouse looked the same as yesterday. I climbed to the top, but I found it empty. Maybe the man got scared because we told his wife he lied.

"There's nothing inside. Now, if you follow your husband, I'm sure he ran that way."

The woman nodded and followed Rose's father, leaving me with the astounded Bella and James.

"Dude! Look at the top!" James whisper-yelled to me.

Bella was staring with a shocked look on her face. "Unbelievable!"

Right on the window at the top, the silhouette of a blond man was staring back to us.

"You know Edward. I don't think we'll have sex- picnics inside the lighthouse again. Who knows what your uncle witnessed?"

* * *

Hi!

So do you liked it?

I want to thank you for coming with me through another journey, I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did.

Now, I posted a poll for my new story. It'll start in January after I finish 'A mother's advice'. One is kind of horror/comedy the other is pure drama. Go and vote or tell me what you want to read next.

See ya soon!


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